Green light for eighth mobile carrier

The Ministry of Information and Communications unsurprisingly granted partly-government backed Indochina Telecom Joint Stock Company a license on Wednesday, to become the eighth mobile network in Vietnam.

Indochina Telecom, which counts the government as its main backer, will share a third generation network with telecom giant Viettel, one of Vietnam’s first four 3G network providers.

The firm’s general director, Le Van Phat, told Vietnam News Agency his company would focus on developing internet services for mobile phones to set it apart from the other providers here.

Indochina Telecom plans to launch by the end of this year.

The seven mobile service providers in Vietnam include military-run Viettel, Mobifone and Vinaphone, both subsidiaries of telecom giant VNPT, S-Fone, Vietnamobile, EVN Telecom, and Gtel Mobile, a Vietnamese-Russian joint venture.

The country currently has about 97 million mobile phone subscribers, with the majority subscribing to Viettel, Mobifone and Vinaphone, according to the ministry.

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