Business
3 reasons of Viettel’s trillion earning from abroad in first six months
  • By Ngoc Quan | dtinews.vn | July 27, 2017 06:56 AM
Thanks to strong growth of international markets, favorable exchange rate movements and new services as well as strategic projects development, Viettel has made a profit of VND1 trillion from investing abroad in the first six months of 2017.



Viettel Global’s first half-year report states that the company has achived sales of up to VND14 trillion (USD600 million) from the current nine international markets. After tax, the profit is VND1 trillion, bringing Viettel Global back to the club of VND trillion profit companies from overseas investment activities.

The outstanding financial result of Viettel is due to positive movements in traditional markets as well as new markets, new strategic projects, strong shifts in new services and favorable exchange rate movements.

Movement in different markets

In addition to Laos, Cambodia, East Timor which are traditional markets that bring good net profit to Viettel Global, other companies in Peru, Burundi or Haiiti are also making a big contribution to the strong growth.

In the first six months, Viettel's sales in Peru and Burundi have exceeded East Timor. Peru and Burundi growths are 82% and 38% consecutively, while East Timor only reaches 29% growth. Even Haiti, the market currently recovering from the typhoon in 2016 has achieved sale growth of 15% over the same period last year.


Although there are many differences in these new markets, Peru and East Timor are still the two most prominent ones of Viettel in the past six months. Viettel's pre-tax profit in Peru in the first half of this year has reached VND405 billion (USD18 million), surpassing 132% of expecte. Furthermore, Viettel’s profit in this market has also reached VND2500 billion (USD112 million), showing 82% increase over the same period last year and an increase of 3% over the original plan.

In East Timor, Viettel Timor Leste (Telemor), a brand of Viettel, has reached VND340 billion (USD15 million), an increase of 29% over the same period last year which exceeds 10% of the target. The number of customers increased by 42% over the plan.

Favorable exchange rate movements

Different from 2016, Viettel is benefiting from exchange rates movements in new markets, including Mozambique and Cameroon. Local currencies no longer loss up to 40-60% as in previous years, and exchange rates of the currencies in Mozambique and Cameroon compared to US dollar has leveled off, helping Viettel earn huge profits in these countries.

For example, the governments’s strict control over exchange rate slippage help Viettel reach profits of 14% in Mozambique and 7% in Cameroon. Potential markets such as Peru and Haiti also benefit from this control by gaining 3 to 6% increase in profit.

According to General Director of Viettel Global (VTG) Le Dang Dung, if the situation continues to be favorable till the end of the year, Viettel can earn huge profits from these markets, especially in Mozambique and Cameroon, where the profit can reach 60 to 70 million dollars.

New services and strategic projects


Mr. Le Dang Dung said that by setting specific targets for each market separately, depending on the characteristics of GDP, scale, geographical situation and issues related to finance and politics, Viettel has developed a unique plan for each brand company aboard, focusing in only 1 to 2 most important goals. From scale development, subscriber growth, service enhancement to real APRU revenue growth per user, VTG is aiming for the main goal, which is achieving USD250 million international profit in 2017.

Viettel also gradually replaces its image to bring in new young customers in traditional markets. For example, after long periods of being framed as "the network of the elderly" in Cambodia, VTG has taken steps to attract new group of customers who are young and more likely to spend more. By changing the color of the logo, making events attractive to young customers, and changing customer care strategies, Metfone, Viettel’s Cambodia company, has reached the total of 7 million subscribers after six months of 2017.

Viettel’s Laos company, Unitel has quickly reached the number of four million subscribers, maintaining the number one position here. In East Timor, Viettel utilizes new frequencies to bring in millions of dollars profit and promotes new 4G data service in the country.

In Peru, thanks to early investments in 4G networks, Bitel has become the largest 4G network in Peru with 5,000 residential centers through 3,000 stations. Only in the first six months, the number of Bitel customers has increased five times, bringing the total number of Bitel customers to over 2 million customers nationwide.

According to Viettel Global, in order to maintain its leading position in most international markets, as well as creating momentum for the next years, Viettel focuses on new business models such as IT solutions, electronic wallets, population management systems, tax solutions, etc.

In the first six months of 2017, Viettel has successfully got many agreements with abroad governments by signing eight big contracts with a total value of more than VND400 billion and real revenue reaching VND270 billion, which is four times higher than the total profit of 2016.

According to the 2017 plan, Viettel is focusing in reaching 50 million international subscribers, which is a 35% increase from 2016. In addition, targeted total revenue for international investment is nearly VND32 trillion (USD1.4 billion), an increase of 29% in 2017.

Leave your comment on this story