The ladder climbed by Vietnam’s new information ministry leader

Hung was born on July 24, 1962 in Phu Tho Province, two hours northwest of Hanoi.

He graduated from the Military Technical Academy in 1979 and was selected by the Ministry of National Defense to pursue a bachelor’s degree in electronics and telecommunications in the Soviet Union in 1980.

Later, he obtained a Masters in telecommunications from the University of Sydney in Australia and another one in business administration from Vietnam’s National Economics University.

Hung was one of the first officers assigned to work at military telecom firm Viettel when the firm was established in 1989 under the name Sigelco.

He started as a technical assistant and went on to become deputy head, and later, head of the investment and development office in 1995.

In 2000, he was appointed as a deputy director of Viettel when it was still a company. He became deputy CEO of Viettel Group in 2010.

Two years later, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. In 2014, he replaced his retired predecessor as CEO of Viettel Group.

In 2016, he was voted to become a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and assigned to be the first chairman of Viettel Group in June this year.

Through his 20 years at Viettel, Hung has contributed significantly to Vietnam’s leading telecom firm making successful forays to foreign countries, investing in Cambodia, Laos, East Timor, Haiti, Mozambique, Cameroon, Burundi, Tanzania, Myanmar and Peru.

Hung is also vice chairman of the Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Military Bank) and board member of the Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Corporation.