It will charge its roaming customers the same rates it does in Viet Nam for calling, texting and data.

Viettel subscribers travelling in Myanmar and calling other Viettel numbers in Viet Nam or Mytel numbers locally will pay VND2,000 (88 cents) per minute, which is one seventh other networks’ rates.

Texting will cost them VND500 per message (other networks charge VND5,000 – 7,000 on average), while data will cost VND200 per MB, which is 95 per cent less than in the past.

Besides, they will not be charged a fee to receive phone calls.

To mark the opening of Mytel, besides Viettel, other members of the group like Unitel (Laos) and Metfone (Cambodia) will also offer international roaming promotions for Myanmar.

Mytel will offer its customers the same international roaming promotion in Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Mytel is the brand name of Telecom International Myanmar, a joint venture between Viettel and Star High Public Company and Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public.

Mytel has a total investment of US$1.5 billion, equivalent to 66 per cent of all Vietnamese investment in Myanmar.

With the project, Viet Nam jumped from 10th position to seventh out of 49 countries and territories investing in Myanmar, and is the second largest ASEAN investor.

Mytel is the fourth mobile network in Myanmar after State-owned MPT, which has a 42 per cent share, Telenor (Norway), and Ooredoo (Qatar).

Myanmar has the highest economic growth rate of all of Viettel’s foreign markets. It telecommunications and IT sector is also growing rapidly.

From having almost the lowest mobile phone usage rate in the world, Myanmar has experienced stunning growth, with per capita usage rising from 10 per cent to 90 per cent in just three years.

In that time the number of subscribers has risen from 600,000 to over 16 million.VNS