YANGON — Myanmar National Tele & Communications Co Ltd (MNTC), a joint venture between Viettel Global, Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public Limited (MNTH) and Star High Public Company Limited (Star High) on Saturday officially received a licence to begin offering nationwide telecommunications services under the Mytel brand name.

The company has received a licence to operate for 15 years in Myanmar, its tenth market. It targeted to launch the telecom services within 12 months of receiving its licence and will cover 95 per cent of Myanmar’s market within three years.

Myanmar is Viettel’s largest foreign market, as its population is around 60 million.

“Our vision is to have a better network than other current providers when we launch our network. We will build a modern and wide telecom network across Myanmar quickly,” said Lê Đăng Dũng, Viettel’s deputy general director.

Myanmar has been part of the strategy for Viettel’s market expansion, especially in developing Asian countries.

After 10 years of operation, Viettel has been listed among the Top 30 largest telecom companies in the world. It reaped profits in most of its foreign markets and is listed among the largest companies in those countries.

Viettel will continue its sustainable and long-term investment strategy by considering telecommunication as a national infrastructure. This has been a factor in being successful in Viettel’s expansion.

Vietnamese telecom major Viettel holds a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture, while the local consortium of Star High and MNTH own 28 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.

The fourth telecom operator is expected to invest an estimated capital of US$2 billion in the country over a five-year period and cover 95 per cent of the population in three years. With this project, Việt Nam takes the 7th position among the largest foreign investors, and second largest investor in ASEAN in Myanmar. — VNS