PANO – The Viettel Global Investment Joint Stock Company (Viettel Global) considered at a shareholder meeting on April 26, 2016 paying a dividend of 10 per cent in cash - a good rate compared with other enterprises and 1.5 times higher than an average bank interest rate for the 12-month deposit. Viettel Global has also planned one or two more new foreign markets in 2016.

According to its financial reports, in 2015 the turnover of Viettel Global’s overseas business increased by 9 per cent to US$1.4 billion, nearly 4 times higher than the global telecom industry’s annual growth of 2.3 per cent.

Viettel Global’s total number of subscribers reached 16.5 million, an increase of 27 per cent, 6 times higher than the global average growth. In 2015 Viettel Global achieved pretax profits of $58 million. All the good results stemmed from the company’s sound strategy, focusing on expanding the market size and seeking to quickly dominate the market.

In 2016 Viettel Global has set itself a goal of expanding its market, increasing the number of its subscribers by 50 per cent or 8.35 million to bring the total number of its subscribers to 25 million. The aggregate turnover of 8 markets, excluding Vietnam and Peru, has been set to reach nearly $1.5 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.4 per cent.

The pretax profit target is $51.4 million, or 90 per cent of 2015, because Viettel Global will have to invest in one or two new markets as planned. Although its profits will shrink in short term, this investment will bring large potential profits in long term, and will also contribute to increasing the advantages brought by the larger market size and promoting Viettel Group’s research and development.

In 2016 Viettel Global will invest in telecom infrastructure in Myanmar, which is considered the most promising market with the biggest population than any of Viettel’s existing foreign markets. This is also a fast growing market with an increasing demand for data usage as 60 per cent of the population has smartphones.

The company’s board of directors has also tabled a plan to increase its registered capital by VNĐ8 trillion (US$360 million) by selling its shares to Viettel Group. An increase in its registered capital of VNĐ10 trillion ($450 million) was approved in 2015 to meet the company’s investment needs in large markets in 2016.

PANO reporters