Vietnam brand buys Cambodian telecoms network
In the latest press release issued by Cambodian telecommunication brand Beeline on March 19, it has announced its merge with Metfone, a brand managed by Vietnam's military-run Viettel Group.
Beeline Cambodia will stop operations starting from March 24. All users will be redirected to Metfone, a network managed by Vietnam's military-run Viettel Group and currently based in Cambodia.
The release didn’t announce the specific amount of money spent for the merger. Metfone has acquired the license, base station system and infrastructure of Beeline, the fourth largest mobile network operator in Cambodia, newswire Vietnamplus reported.
Based on the agreement, former Beeline users will benefit from the vast network of Metfone as well as high quality services such as the ability to access 4G data that the Cambodian brand was previously unable to provide.
Meanwhile, Metfone will take advantage of the infrastructure, frequency telecom, and base stations deployed by Beeline in Cambodia.
Vietnamplus cited published statistics showing that the number of Beeline subscribers decreased to fewer than 500,000 in late 2013 from 1.1 million in 2012.
After eight years of operations in Cambodia, Metfone is currently the biggest telecommunications service provider in the Southeast Asian country with around 9 million subscribers and 1 million users of the 3G service.
Beeline withdrew from Vietnam’s market when its mobile service provider, Vimpelcom, sold its 49% stake in Gtel mobile and give up operational control of Gtel mobile on April 2012.
The stake was later sold to Gtel Transmit and Infrastructure Service One Member Co Ltd, a related party of Vimpelcom’s Vietnamese local partner, Global Telecommunications Corp (GTEL).
In late January this year, Vietnam’s military-run Viettel Group revealed that the company jumped closer to the US$10 billion revenue mark, with investment in nine overseas markets raking in billion-dollar earnings in 2014.
Its revenue topped VND197 trillion (US$9.18 billion), accounting for 12% of the total earnings of all state-run enterprises, and the group posted revenue growth of 20%, while the average rate of other players in the telecom sector is only five percent, according to general director Nguyen Manh Hung.
Its pretax profit swelled to VND42 trillion (US$1.96 billion), a 15% year on year increase. Viettel also posted US$1.2 billion in revenue, and US$278 million in profit, from nine outbound markets.
It has invested in Laos, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Mozambique, Cameroon, Tanzania, Burundi, Haiti, and Peru, according to Viettel Global, the group’s international investment arm.
The military-run firm is expected to maintain its 20% growth pace and earn VND230 trillion (US$10.72 billion) in revenue this year.
“By 2020, Viettel must become a global corporation and a research and production complex for both civil and military purposes,” Hung said in a conference held in January.