HÀ NỘI — Viettel again took first position in the list of the top 50 most valuable brands in Việt Nam in 2018 with a value of more than US$3.1 billion, increasing 24 per cent from the previous year.

The list, released by Brand Finance – a UK-based brand evaluation company, showed that Viettel’s value was equal to the total value of the second and third placed firms on the list.

In the ranking of the 300 most valuable telecom brands in the world, Viettel took 47th position, up one place from 2017 and equal to other telecom providers such as Singtel and Ooredoo, which held the leading position in Singapore and the Middle East, respectively.

Last year was an important year for Viettel, as the group established three new industrial sectors, including electronics and telecommunications, network security and high-tech defence. It was also renamed Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group as well as announcing it would take the lead in the fourth industrial revolution.

Viettel had a successful year expanding its overseas investments. Mytel in Myanmar counted nearly 5 million subscribers after just six months, accounting for 10 per cent of the country’s market share. Myanmar has been the fastest growth market in its history as well as a phenomenon in global telecommunications growth.

The group applied numerous Industry 4.0 technologies in its products and services such as applying blockchain in management of individual healthcare documents, using artificial intelligence (AI) in a system to recognise car number plates and faces, and an AI chatbot to gradually realise its strategy in Industry 4.0.

Viettel also announced to strong investment in research and development of 5G equipment and expected to pilot implementation this year.

The firm was the biggest taxpayer in Việt Nam in 2018 according to the list announced by the General Department of Taxation in August. — VNS