WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
May 28, 2018 / 21:04

Viettel to launch mobile network in Myanmar

Vietnam`s telecommunication company Viettel Group and its partners will launch the first 4G mobile network in Myanmar in June 9 under the brand Mytel, the Vietnamese government said on May 28.

The Mytel network, jointly developed by Viettel, Myanmar National Holding Public Ltd and Star High Public Co Ltd, aims to have at least 2 million-3 million subscribers by this year-end, the government said in a statement. 
 
Illustration photo.
Illustration photo.
Mytel, which is worth US$1.5 billion, will be the first 4G mobile phone network and the fourth telecom operator in Myanmar, the government said. The said figure accounted for 66% of total Vietnam's investment capital to Myanmar. Other telecom operators include state owned MPT with 42% market shares, Teleenor (Norway) of 35% and Ooredoo (Qatar) with 23%. 

For this project, Vietnam has climbed to from 10th to 7th among 49 countries and territories investing in Myanmar, as well as being the second largest investors in ASEAN to Myanmar.  

"With a low mobile phone penetration and a newly opened and fast-growing economy, Myanmar offers great opportunities for telecommunication companies," Viettel Deputy General Director Le Dang Dung was cited as saying in the statement.  

Vietnam's largest mobile carrier by subscription - Viettel - has already invested in 10 countries across Asia, Africa and America, and has 43 million subscribers overseas, as of end-2017. 

Myanmar is Viettel's 10th foreign market with population of 53 million. The country has the highest economic growth rate among Viettel's foreign markets at 7%. Myanmar also has the highest growth rate in telecom and information & technology. 

By the end of 2017, Viettel posted US$1.3 billion in revenue from investing in oversea markets, announced the military-run telecom group.

Viettel currently is the only Vietnamese companies having revenue of over US$1 billion from overseas investments. Total number of customers using Viettel's services in foreign markets is estimated at 43 million by the end of 2017, up 15% year on year and 5 times higher than the average in the world, while others regions such as Africa posted growth rate in customers expansion of 6%, Africa of 3% and Asia of 3%.

Additionally, Viettel is providing 4G network at 7 out of its 10 foreign markets, along with its average revenue per user (ARPU) in 2017 also increased by 20%.

In 2018, Viettel targets a positive profit in overseas investments and a growth rate of 32% compared to 2017; customers growth rate of 16%, taking its total customers to 50 million.

Viettel is operating in 11 countries, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Timor East, Peru, Mozambique, Cameroon, Burundi, Tanzania and Myanmar.