VietNamNet Bridge - Three out of five Vietnamese telcos have reached out to foreign markets.

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The five telcos that provide mobile services are Viettel, VNPT (Vietnam Post & telecommunication Group), MobiFone, Vietnamobile and Gmobile.

A report of the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) shows that Vietnam had 131.9 million active mobile subscribers by the end of October 2016, including 83.7 million 2G subscribers and 48.2 million 3G subscribers.

Viettel, the military telecom group, now leads the domestic mobile market with 63.3 million subscribers. Regarding the infrastructure conditions, Viettel owns 64,220 GSM stations (2G, 3G node B and 4G) and 240,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable.

Vietnam had 131.9 million active mobile subscribers by the end of October 2016, including 83.7 million 2G subscribers and 48.2 million 3G subscribers.

MobiFone ranks second with 34 million subscribers, followed by VinaPhone run by VNPT with 25 million subscribers. The mobile network operator has 35,000 BTS throughout the country.

Gmobile and Vietnamobile are the smallest networks with 6 million and 4 million subscribers, respectively.

Three out of five telcos – Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone – have entered foreign markets.

Viettel started making outward investment soon, in 2006. The mobile network operator is present in 11 countries in Asia, Africa and America with total population of 320 million, or triple Vietnam’s, in the last 10 years.

Viettel is in nine markets and now serves more than 100 million customers worldwide.

In terms of infrastructure, Viettel is considered one of the fastest-growing network operators. It now has 99,500 GSM stations (BTS 2G, 3G node B and 4G) and total length of 365,000 kilometers in fiber optic cable.

As for VNPT, besides serving more than 25 million domestic subscribers, it has representative offices and has been providing services in three regional countries – Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

The mobile network operator provides roaming services to 400 mobile service providers from 160 countries. This means that its subscribers still can use its services when traveling around the world.

MobiFone now serves 50 million domestic subscribers with 50,000 2G and 3G BTS. The telco also has representative offices in Myanmar and Cambodia.

Telcos had a prosperous year in 2016. According to the Ministry of Information & Communication, the revenue of three largest mobile network operators increased significantly in 2016, estimated at VND365.5 trillion, an increase of 7.5 percent over 2015.

VNPT reported the revenue of VND135.223 trillion, an increase of 7 percent compared with 2015. Of this, the revenue from telecom and IT services was VND127.435 trillion.
For MobiFone, the revenue was VND38.439 trillion, which meant the growth rate of 14.5 percent compared to 2015.

Viettel earned VND226.558 trillion in 2016.

While Viettel and MobiFone both reported the decreases in pre-tax profit of VND2.6 trillion and VND2.191 trillion, VNPT reported the increase of VND900 billion in profit compared with 2015.

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Thanh Mai