Software giant FPT Corp (FPT) on Thursday showed its determination to implement the One FPT model by merging its telecommunications unit, FPT Telecom, into the mother company.

The Government also listed five telecommunications enterprises where the State held dominant stakes, excluding FPT Telecom.

"We have asked the Ministry of Finance and the State Capital Investment Corp to increase our ownership in FPT Telecom to 100 per cent or merge the unit," said FPT Corp general director Truong Dinh Anh.

FPT had already merged three of its other units, including FPT Information System, FPT Software and FPT Trading, he added.

In the first nine months of this year, FPT Telecom revenue and profit reached nearly VND2.6 trillion (US$125.36 million) and VND594 billion ($28.6 million), up 47 per cent and 34 per cent compared to the same period last year, respectively.

The mother company's revenue reached VND18.7 trillion ($901.6 million), increasing 23 per cent over the same period last year while gross profit hit VND1.86 trillion ($89.7 million), up 21 per cent. After-tax profit fetched nearly VND1.23 trillion ($59.3 million) and earnings per share was VND5,746, an increase of 15 per cent.

"With such results and with seasonal flow in the fourth quarter in such units as FPT IS and FPT Software, we believe that our company could achieve VND26.6 trillion ($1.28 trillion) in revenue and VND2.6 trillion ($125.36 million) in gross profit for the whole year," stated FPT deputy general director Nguyen The Phuong.

FPT has set an additional growth target of 30-35 per cent for next year while still awating a deposit worth VND708 billion ($34.1 million), owed by EVN Telecom, which reportedly suffered considerable losses and debt related to connection fees and frequency charges.

"It is time to merge EVN Telecom with another State-owned network operator," the Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer) newspaper quoted Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Le Nam Thang as saying.

However, the final decision whether to merge the electricity group's carrier with another telecommunications service provider is yet to be made. Meanwhile, there was a rumour that EVN Telecom, along with Viettel Corp, would likely be subject to a merger.

A Viettel source told Viet Nam News on Thursday that the corporation was waiting for the Prime Minister's final decision.

"If our company gets involved in the merger, we will execute the decision," the source confirmed.

"We will be able to get back the money as soon as the merger is implemented, whether EVN's partner is Viettel or not," Anh said.

VNS