Top-ranking in many fields
Today, Viettel is Vietnam’s biggest mobile network operator with 65 million mobile users, accounting for 52% of market share, and 5.8 million optical fiber cable Internet subscribers. Viettel’s telecoms network is also the biggest in Vietnam with 360,000 kilometers of optical fiber cable, linking almost all districts and communes in the country, and 40,000 base transceiver stations (BTS), covering 97% of the population. Especially, within six months, from November 2016 to April 2017, Viettel managed to launch the biggest and most modern 4G network in the country. Viettel’s telecoms network serves both social and economic activities and provides a backup to the military communications network in peacetime, ready to be switched to a military footing, if so required in wartime.
In recent years, Viettel has proved itself the most effective state business in the three indices of: the most profit, the biggest contributor to the national exchequer and the most valuable trademark. By the end of 2017, Viettel’s owner’s equity was VND 128 trillion and the group’s total assets were valued at VND 220 trillion.
Viettel not only is the leader in domestic market but also has invested in 10 overseas markets with a combined population of 240 million in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Investment in foreign countries has helped broaden Viettel’s markets, ensuring business activities and consolidating Vietnam’s relations with other countries, contributing to heightening Vietnamese businesses’ status in those countries and protecting the country from afar. Viettel is in Top 15 biggest telecoms companies in terms of number of users and Top 40 biggest telecoms companies in terms of turnover.
With the motto of business development juxtaposed with social responsibilities, Viettel has been implementing many social security activities of profound humanitarian meaning, focusing on education, healthcare, and sustainable poverty reduction. The group’s remarkable programs include “School Internet,” “Cows for Poor People in Border Areas,” “Out of the Fondness for Learning,” “Hearts for Children” as well as active participation in the Government’s “Program 30a” to support poor districts. From 2012 to 2017, Viettel has sponsored VND 300 to 350 billion annually to social programs.
A powerful resource of mind and technology
After succeeding in telecoms business, Viettel actively advanced to high-tech research and manufacturing. Viettel has gradually constructed simultaneously a modern infrastructure and prepared a strong resource of military industry and national industry. In 2017, the turnover from Viettel’s Research and Manufacture sector reached VND 12 trillion with an associated profit of VND 4,700 billion.
In terms of military industry, Viettel has managed to research and manufacture many high-tech military weapons and equipment, which are used by the Vietnam People’s Army, whose quality is evaluated as equally good as those made in other countries, with outstanding functions and mechanisms suitable to the VPA’s combat operations (radars, communications equipment, warning systems, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), etc.).
In the civil field, Vietnam has researched and introduced in its service network many important applications and services such as Viettel Online Charging Systems (voices), Viettel Mobile Softswitch Center (vMSC) for its 3G network, Viettel SMS Centers, 4G-eNodeB transceiver stations, 4G Evolved Pocket Core, etc. Moreover, Viettel also researched and manufactured terminal and supporting equipment such as secure mobile phones, ONT optical cable terminal equipment, antennas for base transceiver stations. The group has also developed a national firewall solution, spam blocking system, and a 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring system.
The group is also tasked by the Party and State to strengthen and ensure communication for ministries and branches. So far, Viettel has succeeded in developing many tools, including the national firewall system to monitor, detect, screen and block spams and bad users’ activities on the Internet, a Vietnamese applications ecosystem to replace products and contents produced by other countries (network browser, operating system, social networks, etc.) and a system to manage and monitor network data.
Viettel has also promoted information technology application to activities of the government and businesses with projects of national databases of population, a national single-portal computerization of healthcare and education sectors. Moreover, Viettel also pioneered in hiring service models, facilitating a bigger development environment for telecoms and IT businesses.
Thanks to its good working environment, Viettel has attracted and trained many talented people in management, business and R&D (research and development) with a total domestic and international staff of 55,000 high-skilled people. Not only being a good destination for domestic experts, Viettel has also hired good foreign experts from advanced countries such as the US, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea.
With its desire, confidence, intelligence, will, and continued efforts, Viettel has overcome many challenges to prove itself a big economic resource and establish a foundation of a high-tech industry group, contributing to the development of the military and country.
Translated by Nam Long