Vietnam MobiFone tenders for privatisation advisor
HANOI - Vietnam's second-largest mobile phone firm, MobiFone, said on Wednesday it would pick a consultant next month to advise on its privatisation, the first move in the restructuring of the telecommunications industry.
The Hanoi-based firm, owned by Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications group (VNPT), said in a statement it would open an international tender to choose the consultant.
MobiFone, the short name for Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company, gave no further details, but said candidates must submit their bids by May 16.
MobiFone, which uses GSM technology, has yet to announce a timetable for the IPO or its listing, but the company, along with number one mobile phone firm Vinaphone is expected to list by the end of 2007.
It added 2.5 million subscribers last year, taking its total customers to 6.5 million, a rise of 60 percent from 2005.
The number then expanded another 30.8 percent in the first quarter of this year to 8.5 million, the company said.
Vietnam, whose economy grows around 8 percent a year, had 27.5 million telephones at the end of 2006, a rise of nearly 80 percent from 2005, with mobile phones accounting for 69 percent.
Reuters - April 18, 2007.
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