FPT Retail, a subsidiary of FPT, the largest Vietnamese information technology corporation, now can provide telecommunications services on terrestrial mobile telecommunications networks, including telecommunications services on IMT-2000 and IMT-Advanced standard terrestrial mobile telecommunications networks.

FPT Retail has been allowed to provide services via terrestrial mobile telecommunications networks in the country, with focus on subscribers using 3G/4G or higher technologies.

FPT Retail will be a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MNVO), using the infrastructure of other network operators, such as Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone. To date, FPT Retail has not said which carrier’s infrastructure it will use.

In 2010, MIC granted licenses to use MNVO to several telecom carriers, including VTC and FPT. Under the licenses, VTC would provide telecommunications services for the 3G infrastructure of EVN Telecom and roaming with domestic 2G networks.

At that time, VTC Digicom, a subsidiary of VTC, said the company would provide mobile telecommunications services on the 3G infrastructure of EVN Telecom. In addition to the network operator, VTC would consider roaming solutions with other operators to expand wave coverage to provide services to clients in areas that EVN Telecom’s 3G network still could not reach.

As for FPT, though it was licensed to provide service with MNVO, it has not shown any business plan on cooperating with the carriers that have infrastructure of their own.

At present, FPT Retail has joined the mobile telecom market with great advantages as it owns a large retail network throughout the country, with 800 FPT Shop stores and 1,300 Long Chau drug stores.

FPT Retail is a big technology product retailer which sells 1.5 million smartphones and IoT products of different kinds every year. It is an agent providing mobile telecom services to hundreds of thousands of clients. It also has the advantage of exploiting the ecosystem of the FPT’s diverse digital services to develop business.

FPT is a partner of many global technology firms and has been providing software, hardware, IT infrastructure services to Vietnamese and international mobile telecom carriers over many years.

According to FPT, it takes about 12-15 months to deploy a technical system for an MNVO. FPT Retail, with technological advantages and support from FPT, hopes it can shorten the preparation time to soon begin providing services.

To date, MIC has licensed five telecom carriers to provide MNVO, namely Dong Duong Telecom, Mobicast, ASIM, Digilife and FPT Retail.

Trong Dat