State-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) may have to offload shares in either VinaPhone or MobiFone, two wholly-owned mobile phone subsidiaries, because of new regulation to be implemented in the next couple of months, according to…
State-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) may have to offload shares in either VinaPhone or MobiFone, two wholly-owned mobile phone subsidiaries, because of new regulation to be implemented in the next couple of months, according to VietNamNet.
Under the new decree, to be effective from 1 June, a company which already owns 20%, or more, of a telecom operator will not be allowed to hold more than 20% of another operator in the same market, the newspaper wrote.
VNPT could either decide to sell a stake in one of the two companies or merge them together into one entity.
In late March, an executive at VNPT was quoted saying that an IPO of MobiFone this year was unlikely, after the government and MobiFone failed to agree on valuations.
But he reportedly said that when the IPO takes place, it is likely to involve the sale of a 49% stake in the company.
A stake sale may help spark a consolidation wave in the Vietnamese telecom market, which is currently highly fragmented with seven players.
A few days ago, media company Vietnam Television Corporation (VTC) was reported to be considering buying a stake in state-run mobile operator EVN Telecom. According to VietBiz24, VTC is looking to invest VND800bn (US$38m) to buy a 12% interest in the company.
