Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), operator of the Vinaphone network, reported the highest growth in profit in the first quarter of  2016, according to the three telecom companies’ recent reports submitted to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Though not disclosing actual figures, VNPT reported a pre-tax profit growth of 33.8 per cent on-year in the period.

During the first quarter VNPT had 2.3 million new subscribers, 873,000 of whom are active.

The company gained 325,000 new subscribers to its fibre internet service, four times that of last year, but including 267,000 MegaVNN subscribers who switched to fibre.

MobiFone separated from VNPT at the end of 2014.

Before that, the company was responsible for about 60 per cent of VNPT’s profit.

Despite losing what many thought was its main strength, VNPT managed to turn a profit of VND3.28 trillion ($147.15 million) in 2015, up 20 per cent on-year.

Viettel, in the first quarter of 2016, earned revenue of VND54.4 trillion ($2.44 billion), up 18.7 per cent on-year.

The revenue of the parent company was VND39.1 trillion ($1.75 billion), with a pre-tax profit of VND8.6 trillion ($385.8 million). In 2015 the company made a pre-tax profit of VND45.8 trillion ($2.05 billion).

Viettel contributed to the state budget with VND7.35 trillion ($330 million) in the first quarter.

The company currently has 67.9 millionmobile subscribers, 1.62 million fibre internet subscribers, and 889,000 TV subscribers.

MobiFone earned a pre-tax profit of VND1.45 trillion ($65.05 million) in the first quarter, down 25 per cent on-year.

The decrease can be attributed to the purchase of television company AVG, a showing of the seriousness of MobiFone’s commitment to television.

In the first quarter MobiFone had six million new subscribers.