Eleventh international market
On August 21, Viettel Group announced that it had successfully won a tender for the rights to use three radio frequency bands and would soon build a network to provide telecommunications services using the most advanced technologies in the Dominican Republic, Viettel’s third market in the Americas. Once operational, the Dominican Republic will become the 11th international market in Viettel’s overseas telecommunications investment and business journey.
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Customers register for telecommunications services provided by Bitel, Viettel’s brand in Peru. |
According to Lieutenant General Tao Duc Thang, Chairman and CEO of Viettel Group, winning the tender in the Dominican Republic marked a new step forward for Viettel as it continued expanding into international markets. With more than 20 years of successful international business experience, Viettel was pursuing a long-term investment model focused on building modern infrastructure, introducing new technologies to the market and creating sustainable value for local people, businesses, and the host economy.
Prior to winning the tender in the Dominican Republic, Viettel had operated telecommunications businesses in 10 international markets, leading the market in seven of them. In 2025, revenue from its overseas markets reached 3.34 billion USD, up 23.9%, marking the ninth consecutive year of double-digit growth and accounting for more than 40% of the group’s overall growth.
In the Dominican Republic, Viettel plans to develop advanced telecommunications infrastructure on a large scale, extending coverage to remote and isolated areas, expanding access to connectivity services and gradually building a digital services ecosystem tailored to the needs of local people, businesses and organizations.
Strategic spearhead
Last March, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Viettel’s global business operations, the group set three records in international investment: revenue, profit after tax and gross profit margin. Revenue and profit reflect Viettel’s growing international scale and presence, while the gross profit margin has increased for two consecutive years to more than 51%, demonstrating improved efficiency and competitive advantages.
Viettel is transitioning from an “overseas investment” model to a global business strategy, known as Go Global 2.0, taking the group’s comprehensive capabilities as an industrial and high-tech corporation to international markets.
Lt. Gen. Tao Duc Thang affirmed that with the attention of Party and State leaders and close guidance from the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense over the years, Viettel’s 20-year overseas investment program has achieved successful results.
Alongside telecommunications, Viettel aims to expand into new fields, including digital technology, dual-use high-tech industries, e-commerce and logistics, targeting minimum annual growth of 20%.
“Economic diplomacy has become a strategic spearhead, opening up new opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to confidently expand into global markets,” Gen. Thang said.
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Halotel is Viettel’s telecommunications network brand in Tanzania. |
Breaking new ground, taking on tough challenges
Each market has its own stories that had never been told before. No two markets are alike, but they share one common feature: Viettel has taken “Vietnamese values” to the global stage.
Digital infrastructure and services developed by Viettel have helped improve people’s lives in some of the most remote locations, from the world’s highest-altitude city in the Andes in Peru to countries facing “extreme difficulties” such as Haiti and Burundi.
Journey continues
Viettel originated as a construction and installation company established in 1989. After 37 years, it has grown into a global-scale telecommunications and technology group with a presence in 17 countries across all five continents, with the Dominican Republic becoming its third market in the Americas.
To conquer some of the world’s most challenging markets, Viettel has remained committed to its “Four Any” strategy for universal telecommunications access: Anywhere, Anytime, Anybody and Anyprice.
Rather than focusing solely on urban areas, Viettel is one of the few telecommunications operators in the world to deploy nationwide coverage from the very beginning of its market entry, extending services to remote and isolated areas. It has become the leading operator in terms of infrastructure in most of the countries where it invests.
Viettel is also among the small number of telecommunications operators capable of independently researching and manufacturing telecommunications equipment. Of the 11 markets where Viettel invests and operates telecommunications and digital services, it ranks No. 1 in mobile market share in eight markets and ranks No. 1 in national budget contributions in five.
With 45,000 base stations outside Vietnam and 220,000 kilometers of fiber-optic cable, Viettel currently serves approximately 90 million international customers and provides employment for around 700,000 people in its investment markets.
The 20-year journey is measured not only by revenue, rankings or the number of markets in which Viettel operates, but also by the journey of a Vietnamese brand taking the spirit of Uncle Ho’s soldiers, a commitment to serving people and a sense of national responsibility to the world.
Translated by Quynh Oanh