VietNamNet Bridge – Having got licenses in seven foreign markets, military-run telecom group Viettel is seeking investment opportunities in Tanzania and Myanmar in a bid to raise overseas incomes.

A source told the Daily that Viettel has applied for a mobile service license in Tanzania, right beside its current market of Mozambique. The group is likely to obtain a business license in the market in the near future.

Tanzania is an agriculture-based country in Africa in which four mobile operators are running. At present, the mobile phone penetration rate in the country is just 40% of the population of nearly 50 million, making the nation a potential market for mobile service providers.

If the enterprise wins a business license in Tanzania, Viettel will raise the total number of its foreign markets to eight, the other seven being Timor Leste, Peru, Cameroon, Mozambique, Cambodia, Laos and Haiti.

Up to now, Viettel has officially provided services in five out of seven foreign markets. The enterprise will start its business in Cameroon in mid-2014 and is going to launch it mobile network in Peru.

Le Dang Dung, deputy general director of Viettel, recently told the Daily that Viettel has failed in the bidding for a mobile business license in Myanmar. However, it is seeking cooperation opportunities with winning bidders to launch services in the country.

Viettel is trying to tap three new markets every year, targeting to make overseas revenue account for 20-30% of total revenue of the group in 2020, Dung said.

Viettel does not only aim at markets with small numbers of mobile service users. In Peru, the ratio of mobile phone subscribers over the population has almost reached 100%. However, Viettel still invests in the nation due to a potential third generation (3G) service market, Dung added.

Speaking at a recent meeting, a leader of the Ministry of Information and Communications said that Viettel has signed some cooperation agreements with telecom firms in Cuba during the ministry’s business trip to the nation. Maybe, Viettel will make investment in Cuba in the coming time.

Dung said Viettel also has opportunities to invest in three other countries in Africa and Latin America, but he declined to disclose the names of such countries.

In the country, Viettel has to reach five million subscribers to secure profitability while in overseas markets, it only has to reach around two million subscribers to break even.

The reason is the enterprise spends less on network infrastructures in other countries, he said.

This year, Viettel targets to obtain VND163 trillion in revenue compared to last year’s figure of VND140 trillion. Of which, revenues from overseas markets will account for around 15%.

Last year, the group generated nearly US$600 million in revenue and US$76 million in profit from overseas telecom services, up 85% against 2011. It has gained profits from four foreign markets, Cambodia, Laos, Mozambique and Haiti.

Source: SGT