A wide range of foreign contracts sign a bumper season for Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) in response to its overseas expansion plan.

A few days ago in Berlin (Germany), VNPT and MC Media, a video production company, introduced the product smartbox which can be connected to a television set to provide 50 Vietnamese channels for Vietnamese people living in Germany. 

This product resulted from the cooperation of VNPT and MC Media. In particular, VNPT provides the hardware (smartbox), while MC Media is responsible for the content.

In Cuba, technology company CubaTel said that the country Cuba has so far consumed 1.5 million kilometres of optical fibre produced by VINA-OFC, a subsidiary of VNPT.

At the middle of 2017, in Laos, VNPT and E-Government Centre signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). 

The parties will team up to conduct a survey on demand for e-government and run tests for VNPT products E-Office and E-Portal. If these products prove efficient and favourable, VNPT will provide them for ministries, organisations, and agencies in Laos.

In Cambodia and Myanmar, VNPT is cooperating with local firms to introduce new products in the information technology industry. 

In particular, VNPT will provide the products of satellite phone VinaPhone S in both markets. 

Previously, on November 24, 2016, VNPT, Meridian, and Elite signed an agreement to establish a joint venture. 

On December 23, 2016, related agencies in Myanmar granted the establishment license to this joint venture.

Currently, VNPT's subsidiary VNPT International (VNPT-I) has signed the agreement to provide the ICT and VinaPhone S services for its partners Elite and Global Net in Myanmar and Telecom Cambodia and MekongNet in Cambodia. 

Also, VNPT is piloting its services VSAT-IP and VinaPhone S for Telecom Cambodia.

Since 2007, VNPT has been rapidly expanding its business. Its products and services are available in numerous countries over the world.

On the lookout for international investment opportunities

With the aim of expanding its markets and looking for international investment and business opportunities, VNPT has been enthusiastically promoting cooperation and actively seeking potential foreign markets, especially ones with good relationship with Vietnam.

At present, VNPT is studying and assessing the plan on entering foreign markets by mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2017. 

VNPT signed MoUs with plenty of partners in South Korea, Japan, Cuba, Latvia, Bangladesh, Iran, and Angola to provide them with its IPLC, IP-Transit, FTTX, VSAT, and ICT services.

Because industrial technology will be one of VNPT’s core businesses, the company has reinforced research and development activities (R&D). 

After restructuring, VNPT has built an R&D centre and increased its innovation budget. 

Previously, VNPT spent about VND10-20 billion ($440,000-$880,000) per annum on R&D projects, but currently this figure has increased to VND250 billion ($11 million). 

Besides, VNPT established an R&D fund with a total investment sum of about VND600-700 billion ($26.4-30.8 million).

At present, VNPT has two manufacturing factories. In 2016, the company manufactured 2.4 million units of terminal equipment. 

VNPT is also the first Vietnamese company to invest in a glass fibre factory so that it can produce and export optical fibre. 

This factory broke ground at the beginning of February 2016 with a total investment sum of nearly VND300 billion ($13.2 million). 

It is expected that the factory will be completed and put into operation in 2018.

Pham Duc Long, general director of VNPT said that the company will continue its expansion in some Asian, African, Latin American, and European markets. 

VNPT will not only be a telecom provider, but it will also branch out to provide technological and industrial products, as well as other information technology and e-government services.

In VNPT’s development strategy from now till 2020, industrial production will be the spearhead. 

It targets to boost its industrial production to meet 100 per cent of the demand of its entire global network, with enough left over to export.

VIR