Viettel joint venture plans to connect seven million users in Myanmar

By Toan Dao   April 21, 2016 | 02:24 am PT
Viettel joint venture plans to connect seven million users in Myanmar
Photo by Viettel.
A telecom joint venture between Vietnam’s military-run operator Viettel and two Myanmar partners expects to have up to seven million users in Myanmar in two years after it receives its business license from the local government.

“We plan to have five to seven million users and rank third [in telecom service providers] in Myanmar two years after we get our license,” Viettel’s deputy director, Le Dang Dung, said to the state-run Bao Dau Tu newspaper on Thursday.

A representative from Viettel confirmed Dung’s comments with VnExpress.

Negotiations for the joint venture between Viettel (49 percent stake) and the Myanmar National Holding Public Limited and Star High Public Company Limited (51 percent) are expected to be completed in May, and the parties hope Myanmar’s government will grant a license in June. As soon as the license is issued, the consortium will set up the necessary infrastructure and begin doing business there. About $1 billion will be invested this year, Dung said.

The joint venture will pour about $1.5 billion to build 3G and 4G telecommunication networks and plans to provide telecom services covering about 95 percent of Myanmar’s population within three years, Viettel said last week.

Besides Myanmar’s state-owned telecom operator MPT, Norway's Telenor and Qatar’s Ooredoo were awarded licenses to enter the southeast Asian nation’s telecom market in 2014.

According to Myanmar's government, more than 60 percent of Myanmar’s population have smartphones.

The country's telecommunications sector will witness fast development given rising annual economic growth of about 8 percent, according to Viettel.

 
 
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