Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group (DBA Viettel Group; ) is a Vietnamese state-owned multinational telecommunications, technology and manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam. The enterprise is under the direct administration of the Vietnam Ministry of National Defence, making it a military enterprise and officially a major production unit under the Vietnam People's Army.
Viettel Group's affiliate Viettel Telecom is currently the network operator with the largest market share in the Vietnamese telecommunications services market. For 30 years, Viettel has grown from a construction company to a complex of five business lines including telecommunications and information technology (IT); research and manufacture of electronic and telecommunications equipment; defense industry, as well as cyber security and digital services. Viettel is one of the largest state-owned enterprises of Vietnam. Since 2000, Viettel has earned VND 1.78 quadrillion of revenue whereas its profit, owner's equity and return on equity reached VND 334 trillion, VND 134 trillion and 30%-40%, respectively. Viettel has spent VND 3,500 billion in CSR activities. Besides its civilian telecommunications sector, its subsidiaries Viettel High Tech and Viettel Aerospace Institute have been involved in developing, producing and supplying the Vietnam People's Army with many indigenous products and armaments such as military communication devices, military drones, surveillance radars, and missiles.
, Viettel had 50,000 employees inside and outside the country, and served 110 million subscribers.
History 1989–1999: A construction company
Electronics and Communication Equipment Corporation (SIGELCO), the forerunner of Viettel Group (Viettel), was established on 1 June 1989. In December 1992, SIGELCO applied for the State's permission for transforming into an Electronics and Communication Equipment Company under the management of the Signal Corps.Decree No. 388/HĐBT of the Council of Ministers on restructuring of State-owned enterprises
On 13 June 1995, the Prime Minister issued Notification No. 3179/DM-DN on the permission for the establishment of Military Electronics and Telecommunications Company. On 14 July 1995, the Minister of National Defense decided to officially change the company's name to Military Electronics and Telecommunications Company, VIETEL in short. At that time, Vietel was the second firm to get a business license for all telecommunications services in Vietnam.Decision No. 615/QĐ-QP dated 14 July 1995 of the Minister of Defense On 1 July 1997, Vietel Post was established, first providing newspaper publishing services.
2000–2009: A boom in telecommunications services market
On 3 February 2000, Mr. Mai Liem Truc, General Director of the General Department of Post and Telecommunications, signed a decision that allowed Vietel to pilot long-distance call services using VoIP technology. For the first time, Vietnam had an operator licensed to provide VoIP services. On 15 October 2000, Vietel officially piloted its VoIP service for the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City route with the "178 - Your Saving Code" campaign. At that time, Vietel was the only VoIP service provider in Vietnam. The campaign launched with phenomenal success, generating significant revenue and prestige for Vietel. They continued to expand the service to 62 more provinces (Hanoi and Ha Tay were separate at that time) and broke even just 9 months later.
On 5 December 2001, Vietel launched the international call service using VoIP technology. One year later, they launched the Internet service, connecting internationally at the speed of 2 Mbit/s while costing only one third of the current price. On 28 October 2003, the Ministry of National Defense (MOD) changed the company's name to Military Telecommunications Company, Viettel in short, under the management of the Signal Corps.Decision No. 262/2003/QĐ-BQP dated 28 October 2003 of the Minister of Defence In March 2003, Viettel offered long-distance public switched telephone network (PSTN) call service in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.Knud E. S., Idongesit W., Albert G. (2017). Handbook on ICT in Developing Countries: 5G Perspective. River Publishers. P. 25. On 9 January 2004, Viettel officially launched its current logo and brand identity. On 27 April 2004, MOD moved Viettel from under the management of the Signal Corps to the MOD.Decision No. 51/QĐ-BQP dated 27 April 2004 of Minister of Defence on moving Viettel from under the management of Signal Corps to under the management of Ministry of Defence On 15 October 2004, Viettel launched 098 mobile service.
On 6 April 2005, the company changed its name to Military Telecommunications Corporation under the management of MOD and its subordinate Centers and Factories were transformed into Subsidiaries.Decision No. 45/2005/QĐ-BQP dated 6 April 2005 of Minister of Defence on the establishment of Viettel In 2006, Viettel established Viettel Cambodia supplying international call service, Internet and leased line services in Cambodia. In 2007, Viettel introduced many key subsidiaries namely Viettel Telecom Corporation (by merging three large companies in Long-distance, Internet and Mobile),Decision No. 431/QĐ-TCTVTQĐ dated 21 March 2007 of the General Director of Viettel on the establishment of Viettel Telecom Viettel Technology CenterDecision No. 854/QĐ-TCTVTQĐ dated 20 June 2007 of the General Director of Viettel on promulgating the ratification of the Regulation on functions, tasks, powers and organizations of Viettel R&D Center and Viettel Global Investment Joint Stock.2018 Annual Report of Viettel Global In 2008, Viettel actively promoted their CSR activities such as sponsoring "We are soldiers" TV show, "Nhu chua he co cuoc chia ly" TV Show, "Trai tim cho em", "Operation Smile", and so on.
In 2009, Viettel Cambodia in Cambodia and Star Telecom (a partnership between Viettel and Lao Asia Telecom) in Laos went into operation under the brand names of Metfone and Unitel respectively. On 14 December 2009, Military Telecommunications Corporation became Military Telecommunications Group under the management of the MOD.Decision No. 2079/QĐ-TTg dated 14 February 2009 of the Prime Minister on the establishment of Parent Company – Viettel Group under the management of Ministry of Defence on the basis of the organizational structure of Viettel After more than 5 years of providing mobile services, Viettel Mobile held 40% of market share in terms of the quantity of mobile subscribers, which was equivalent to 42.5 million active subscribers.
2010–2018: A global technology group
On 25 March 2010, Viettel launched 3G services in 63 provinces and cities with 8,000 active 3G BTS throughout the country. On 8 September 2011, Viettel launched Natcom telecommunications brand in Haiti after almost one year of preparation, claiming to be the mere company to offer full package of telecommunications services and 3G technology. Natcom was also the only telco that owned the unique international Internet port in Haiti via the 10 Gbit/s cable line to Bahamas and the United States. At the end of 2011, Viettel's production line for telecommunications and information technology (IT) equipment was put into operation. The year of 2011 also marked exceptional milestones in Viettel's research and production such as the successful trial of disaster warning system, the launch of Viettel IDC's Song Than Data Center, and the establishment of Viettel Research and Development Institute.Decision No. 3309/QĐ-BQP dated 12 September 2011 of the Minister of Defence on establishing Viettel Research and Development Center under Viettel Group. On 5 December 2011, Viettel acquired original EVN Telecom.Decision No. 2151/QĐ-TTg dated 5 December 2011 of the Prime Minister on transferring EVN Telecom to Viettel Group
On 15 May 2012, Viettel launched Movitel mobile network in Mozambique. At the beginning of October, the first batch of Sumo 2G V6206 mobile phones made by Viettel was officially introduced onto the market. In 2013, at telecommunications and IT forums, the Group's leader declared Viettel's strategic transferral from a mobile network operator to a service provider. In March 2013, Telemor network was launched in Timor Leste. In June 2013, Viettel would supply the PAVN with Vietnamese-made UAVs before the end of the year. In July 2013, Viettel began production of military-grade radio equipment for the PAVN. A short-range UAV known as the VT-Patrol was made before the end of 2013.
In 2014, Nexttel in Cameroon and Bitel in Peru went into business. After 10 years of providing mobile services, Viettel started to focus on IT services, launching many digital services and solutions such as CA - digital signature service, SMAS - school management system, Agri.One - farmer supporting solution, BankPlus – door-to-door money transferring application and so on. On 25 February 2014, the company announced their success in manufacturing UAVs. Also in the same year, instead of sponsoring for various small programs, Viettel focused on large and significant CSR programs such as "Quy bo giong thoat ngheo", "Vi em hieu hoc" and so on.
In March and October, 2015, Viettel launched Lumitel network in Burundi and Halotel in Tanzania. In Vietnam, Viettel is the first telco to pilot 4G services. In November, 2016, Viettel was officially granted the license to supply 4G services in Vietnam, declaring that they were able to produce infrastructure equipment for telecommunications network. Spontaneously, the number of Viettel's international customers hit 35 million. On 18 April 2017, Viettel launched 4G telecommunications network in Vietnam. Thanks to its nationwide coverage of up to 95%, Viettel became the first mobile network operator in the world to have nationwide 4G coverage right after launching. In the middle of 2017, Viettel's real time billing system (vOCS) was applied into practice.
In 2018, Viettel intensified their efforts to contribute to the development of e-Government with flagship products such as national immunization information management system, national population database, smart city, and national single window portal. On 19 July 2017, Viettel was officially recognized by the Government as a Defense and Security Enterprise.Decision No. 1059/QĐ-TTg dated 19 July 2017 of the Prime Minister on recognizing Viettel as a defence and security firm On 5 January 2018, Military Telecommunications Group changed their name to Military Industry – Telecommunication Group. In March 2018, Viettel introduced their virtual server service entitled Viettel StartCloud, soaring to the leading position in the Data center and Cloud market. In June, 2018, the 10th international brand of Viettel was launched in Myanmar under the brand name of Mytel.
In August 2018, Viettel entered the 4th development stage: 4.0 and Global Business, aiming to maintaining the growth rate of 10-15%, becoming a global technology and business group, and continuing to lead the telecommunication and high-technology markets in Vietnam.
2018–present: Digital service provider
At the beginning of December 2018, Viettel successfully activated the NB-IoT based infrastructure with the first 30 BTS in Hanoi, claiming the title of first telco in Vietnam to successfully deploy commercial IoT network. In the first half of 2019, Viettel also launched many corporations and companies which are strategic in their 4th stage namely Viettel Business Solutions Corporation, Viettel Cyber Security, Viettel Hi-Tech Industries Corporation and Viettel Digital Services Corporation.