Vietnamese Operator Eyes Overseas Expansion Options

Vietnamese mobile network operator, Viettel is applying to the government to switch from a state corporation to an economic group, so that it can raise capital and invest overseas. The company is owned by the Ministry of Defence.

According to Viettel, if it is allowed to become a group, it will have the fourth-largest revenue and the first return on equity among the eight state-owned economic groups in Vietnam.

The local VietNamNet Bridge newspaper noted that the Prime Minister earlier permitted Viettel to become the first state-owned company to experimentally apply a salary policy based on business results.

The company recently signed a series of 3G network upgrade contracts with Nokia Siemens Networks, ZTE and Huawei. The network deployment is expected to be completed by September 2009.

Estimates from the Mobile World shows that Viettel ended Q1 '09 with 21.7 million customers, representing a market share of just under 30%.

On the web: Mobile World - VietNamNet Bridge

Posted to the site on 27th July 2009