20 years ago, with the lowest mobile usage rate in the world, Vietnam has become a telecommunications exporter and one of the few to fully master 5G technology. It is hard to imagine that the S-shaped country will become one of the few countries that owns and exports 5G and has the second largest telecommunications brand in the world. Viettel not only created a telecommunications boom in Vietnam, but also brought mobile waves and digital services to serve people in many countries even in unstable and difficult circumstances. The group is even successful in countries where even the largest telecommunications companies had to withdraw.
In 7/10 investment markets, corporations ranked first. It's no longer just "luck", because luck doesn't come many times. The feat that the group has accomplished in foreign markets is a testament to the strategy, determination, and creativity of many generations.
Great success by doing what's best for users
"The group's strategy is to be in the top 10 largest telecommunications operators in the world. Without investing abroad, the Vietnamese market is not enough, the group cannot be in the top 10 telecommunications operators." largest network in the world" - Lieutenant General Hoang Anh Xuan, former General Director of Viettel Group, recalled.
At the end of 2006, Viettel officially "set foot" in the Cambodian market, becoming the first telecommunications enterprise to invest directly abroad. At that time, the domestic market share was still vast, and in fact it was still an attractive piece of cake for international investment. Viettel still has late payment debt for 5,000 broadcasting stations and is having to bear the burden.
While the technical team is quality, the telecommunications business experience is only in the learning stage. A series of resistances are presented to illustrate the risk of the decision to go to the big sea. But the corporation's determination is to do it.
"Cambodia at that time was also competitive, it was very fierce. Because at that time when I went to Cambodia, first of all, they did not have any incentives for businesses, I was a foreign investor, 7-8 businesses in a row. there" - Major General Hoang Son, former Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy General Director of the Group, remembered the reason why Cambodia was chosen as the first market.
Cambodia is a country with a large area, a sparse population with low population density, making not only the telecommunications sector, but also many other fields such as electricity and water, have difficulties in developing infrastructure in terms of infrastructure. remote areas. In danger there is opportunity. Realizing the weakness of most telecommunications networks in Cambodia at that time was that they did not have their own infrastructure. Therefore, the group is determined to build and own its own telecommunications infrastructure.
Overcoming the unprecedented challenge of transporting the first 10 test transmitter stations from Vietnam, the group made efforts day and night to quickly build thousands of stations with a combination of domestic real-life experience and adaptation. Flexibly adapt to your country's environment.
Therefore, on the day of its official launch more than 1 year later, on February 9, 2009, Metfone - the group's international brand in Cambodia immediately became the provider with the largest telecommunications infrastructure. 2 years later, Metfone rose from 8th place to No. 1 with 46% mobile market share, 60% broadband fixed market share.
Bakneom is an agricultural village about an hour's drive from the center of Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia-Thailand border province, but it is one of the few localities that have difficulty connecting to the national grid or water supply network. Because, with a sparse population loss, only about 300,000 residents on an area of more than 6,000 km2, infrastructure businesses are almost impossible to be profitable.
However, Bakneom has mobile phone waves! 'Apart from Metfone, there is no network operator thinking about coverage in this area or remote areas in the province,' said Oddar Meanchey, Branch Manager of Metfone (Viettel's brand in Cambodia).
Unlike other international competitors, Metfone is willing to 'give ahead', bringing telecommunications to the most remote areas. 'Metfone has expanded its coverage to remote areas, even in places where they know they won't make a profit. This makes us feel warm, especially for army units in border and remote areas,' said General Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense of Cambodia.
Among the countries where Viettel rose to No. 1 in telecommunications market share the fastest, Burundi (Africa) is the country that created a miracle in just 6 months. In this country, Viettel still prioritizes the strategy of popularizing mobile services by bringing telecommunications to the entire country and its people. However, the factor that helped Lumitel (the group's brand in Burundi) make a leap came from the incident in the African country.
In May 2015, when political events occurred, other network operators stopped operating and foreign personnel left Burundi, causing communications to be disrupted. Meanwhile, Viettel people here know how to control the situation and still maintain the operation of the mobile network: customers massively switched to Lumitel, bringing this network to the No. 1 position in a very short time.
However, the factor that makes the group very different in Burundi lies not only in popularizing telecommunications and reaching the number one position in the super-fast market share. That is, this network participates in many social activities, supporting vulnerable people in Burundi, of which the use of Lumicash e-wallet to financially support hundreds of thousands of repatriated refugees is an example. particular.
Lumitel has used its network and personnel to support the United Nations in implementing humanitarian financial operations for more than 168,000 refugees, with more than 21 million USD transferred to the right people, safely. Ms. Brigitte Mukanga Eno - Chief Representative of the United Nations High Commission in Burundi said: "Without Lumitel and Lumicash's activities, refugee support activities would face countless difficulties."
In addition to the miracles of growth and universal telecommunications in developing countries, Viettel also created miracles in a country with a much higher level of development and GDP than Vietnam: Peru. Here, the group won the telecommunications license bid because of its commitment to provide free Internet to more than 4,000 schools - something no other telecommunications company is willing to do. When opened in 2014, Bitel (Viettel brand here) was the only mobile network with nationwide 3G coverage.
Even in a country like Peru, the group continues to carry out its mission: serving people in even harsh areas. That is Cerro de Pasco, a city located at an altitude of 4,380m, one of the highest cities in the world, covered with snow all year round.
The first and almost only feeling of most people when arriving in Pasco is "Can't breathe". This is also the poorest and most difficult area in Peru and people have never known how to use a phone or the Internet. However, the appearance of Bitel changed everything.
And yet, in February 2021, despite the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bitel completed the installation of 4 broadcasting stations at the end of the Amazon River basin, bringing mobile waves and Internet to the deepest areas here. These are the last stations in the deepest and farthest broadcasting station project in the Amazon River basin in Peru. Crossing the jungle and crossing the Amazon River to pull fiber optic cables and provide mobile coverage in places without electricity in the Amazon river basin can be considered unimaginable for all network operators in Peru - except Bitel.
"Give first, receive later" is the guideline for the group to build a sustainable investment strategy, balancing the interests of the business with the interests of the government and people of the host country. This is what helps the group's brands in foreign countries to always be highly appreciated, and is even an important factor helping many subsidiaries rise to the number 1 position in market share in an unimaginable period of time.
Being fierce in the face of competitors and humane in its customer approach strategy, after 15 years since opening its first foreign market, the group has become a professional international investor, ranked No. 1 in 7/10.
international markets. Revenue from foreign investment activities reached more than 3 billion USD, maintaining a high growth rate for 7 consecutive years, 5 times higher than the industry average in the world, bringing annual foreign exchange revenue transferred to Vietnam to up to 500 million USD.
The numbers speak about business efficiency, but also show an aspiration, a consistent philosophy throughout the group when investing internationally: Affirming Vietnamese technological capacity.
From telecommunications services to technology mastery and equipment manufacturing
In March 2024, the corporation surprised at the largest event in the world's mobile technology industry when introducing the 5G device ecosystem at MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Spain. Accordingly, the technology corporation from Vietnam launches a 5G radio network equipment ecosystem according to Open-RAN standards, 5G core network and 5G chip fully owned by Viettel.
Commenting on this event, Mr. Dan Rodriguez - General Director of the Network Platform Group at Intel, said: "Viettel has achieved great achievements, truly breakthrough technologies both in terms of using Open-RAN and 5G SA core".
Before that, not many people could believe that the Vietnamese network - which originally came from a construction company, was capable of successfully producing 5G devices, even making 5G chips. This is something that only a few of the world's largest technology corporations can do and no telecommunications operator other than Viettel has successfully produced it.
Before demonstrating the independent 5G broadcast network at MWC, the group conducted tests for 300 5G stations officially operating on the network in Vietnam (Hanoi, Ha Nam, Da Nang, Ninh Thuan). The results show that 5G equipment manufactured by Viettel fully meets technical criteria according to world standards and Vietnamese standards. And yet, in December 2023, the group's complete 5G Private system was exported to India, a technologically developed country with the largest population in the world.
In addition to successfully researching and manufacturing hardware devices, mastering the real-time billing system (OCS), the "heart of the network", is another feat of Viettel. Before 5G equipment, this is a feat that surprises international partners when Viettel is the only telecommunications operator that can develop its own OCS system.
This group not only successfully researched and developed vOCS 3.0 but also became the Top 3 OCS manufacturers globally in terms of capacity and features. In particular, vOCS can also do something that no other real-time billing system in the world can do: design a separate package for each customer.
"The group's development path has gone from working as a laborer, to investing in telecommunications services, to working in high-tech industry and the next step is to work in technology, present in all stages of the sales industry. Leading and being a pioneer enterprise for Vietnam's electronics industry, if a country does not have an electronics industry, it cannot develop, and the group's mission is to be a key enterprise, making an important contribution to that. Vietnam has become a developed country," said Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Information and Communications, who has held leadership positions at the group since the first days.
New 5G chips and network equipment are the beginning. Viettel sets a goal of becoming a highly qualified chip design company in Asia by 2030 and becoming an important nucleus in the development of the semiconductor industry in Vietnam.
"Viettel continues to be steadfast with the noble aspirations that have been passed down from generation to generation: to always innovate for people, to continuously popularize so that when technology moves forward, no one will be harmed." leaving behind, it is a pioneer, a key force in creating a digital society, it is a resonance to create value together," said Major General Tao Duc Thang, Chairman - General Director of Viettel. The spirit of self-reliance and daring to take on the most difficult tasks to overcome has helped Viettel establish many miracles in the past that will continue to be luggage in the next journey and create new miracles./.
Source: Business & Green Economic Magazine
