Vietnam to Get its First Mobile Phone Factory

Vietnam is to get its first mobile phone manufacturing facility, with the opening of a factory at Da Nang in August this year. Hue-Da Nang Service Center (HDC) is investing around US$3.5 million in the new factory to make handsets under the HDC brand name for the local market. The factory will be in the central coastal city's Hoa Khanh industrial zone.

Vietnam currently has a mobile phone ownership of about 1.6 million subscribers, which is expected to rise to 7 million by 2006.

The company expects that it will initially be abale to manufacturer up to 30% of the components, including covers, chargers, antennas and buttons, with the remaining being imported from other manufacturers. This will later rise as a second factory is built next April.

Around 80% of the handsets will be sold locally, with the primary GSM network, VNPT expected to be the company's major customer, while the rest will be exported to Thailand, Cambodia and Lao Last year, some 700,000 handsets were sold in the country, of which it has been estimated that 75% were smuggled in from outside Vietnam."

Posted to the site on 25th June 2003