Viettel taps into Peru, East Timor markets

HA NOI — Viettel, Viet Nam's leading telecom firm, won a contract to officially provide telecom services in Peru, according to an announcement by the Peru private investment promotion agency on Tuesday.

The branch of Viettel in Peru, called Viettel Peru SAC, will provide nation-wide mobilephone services with a 900MHz bandwidth.

Viettel Peru expects to supply these services to at least 15,000 subscribers after one year of operation and reach 357,000 subscribers in five years.

To realise this goal, the firm plans to spend more than US$300 million to assemble optical cables and base-transceiver stations as well as other equipment.

Viettel Peru won the two decade-long deal after it vowed to provide broadband internet access for free within one decade to 718 schools and clinics, or selected administration offices in the 830 poorest districts of the country.

The company also pledged to supply mobilephone services to 48 rural districts which are not covered by a mobile network or where there is only one service provider.

With the successful bid, Peru became the fifth foreign market that Viettel tapped into, following Cambodia, Laos, Haiti and Mozambique.

Viettel said it would also invest in a mobilephone network in Timor Leste (East Timor) as part of the same global business expansion plan.

The military-run firm will establish an affiliate in the Southeast Asian island nation under the name of Viettel Timor Leste, with an initial investment of $15 million to carry out the project.

According to the Timor Leste Ministry of Infrastructure's website, Viettel and Telin of Indonesia both received licences to invest in mobile networks in the country of 1 million people.

While Telin vowed to provide 94 per cent of the population with mobile service and 3G (third generation) Internet access in the next six months, Viettel pledged to supply the same services to 95 per cent of Timor Leste's population in the next three years.

Viettel's project in Timor Leste will bring the number of its worldwide subsidiaries to six.

The company, which in May this year launched its first African mobile network in Mozambique, said it also plans to invest in a mobile network in the South American country of El Salvador.

Ranked the 15th largest telecom firm in the world, the company last year earned a turnover of $6 billion, registering an annual growth rate of 20 per cent. — VNS