~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam's largest cellphone firm plans 100-million-dollar upgrade

HANOI - Vietnam's largest mobile phone provider, state-owned Vinaphone, will invest 100 million dollars in upgrading its network to improve services. "We have decided to spend 100 million dollars to build three new exchanges in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and (northern Vietnam's) Hai Duong province," a Vinaphone public relations official told AFP. He said 1,000 base stations would be upgraded in order to ensure coverage by Vinaphone network in every district by the end of 2005.

The official was confirming a Vietnamese newspaper report that Vinaphone, which is owned by the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corp. (VNPT), would be able to serve up to 5.4 million subscribers. The network currently has 2.8 million users, he noted.

Until December 2002, Vinaphone and MobiFone had a duopoly on the mobile phone market. Then, Cityphone, another VNPT operator, began offering services in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. S-Fone, a network owned by South Korean consortium SLD Telecom -- a Singapore-registered joint venture between SK Telecom, LG Electronics and Dong Ah Elecomm -- became the fourth operator in 2003 using CDMA technology. Vietnam's Military Electronics and Telecommunications Co. (Viettel) became the fifth operator in October last year, using GSM. Last Friday, Hutchinson Telecom, a subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, obtained a 656 million dollar-licence in a tie-up with a Vietnamese partner to launch the country's first third generation (3G) mobile phone network.

Industry experts say Vietnam is now the second fastest expanding telecoms market in the world after China.

Agence France Presse - February 21, 2005.