Lumitel, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s military-run telecommunications group Viettel in Burundi, has become the first 4G LTE service provider in the African country. 

VNA quoted Viettel as saying that Lumitel is offering 4G services at 100 Mbps in the major provinces of Bujumbura, Gitega, Ngozi, Muyinga, Makamba, and Rumonge. 

Entering the market in April 2015, Lumitel acquired 1 million subscribers in just four months and has become Burundi’s largest telecommunications service provider with a network covering 90 per cent of the country. It now has 1.3 million users. 

Viettel said that although the group has not officially begun supplying 4G services in Vietnam it has taken the lead in introducing it in foreign markets such as Laos and Cambodia, in 2015.

It plans to expand its 4G network to Timor-Leste, Peru, and Haiti this year. 

Viettel is now present in ten countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with 85 million subscribers. It earned $1.4 billion in revenue in 2015. In Tanzania its Halotel brand also attracted 1 million users in just three months of operations, according to VNA.