Vietnamese mobile operator Mobifone is close to being privatised after its state-owned parent Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) received approval to spin off the company.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has passed the proposal, according…
Vietnamese mobile operator Mobifone is close to being privatised after its state-owned parent Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) received approval to spin off the company.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has passed the proposal, according to local reports.
The company was not immediately available for comment.
The privatisation of Mobifone has long been in the pipeline. VNPT had previously wanted to reorganise its operations and bring its units Mobifone and Vinaphone – two of Vietnam’s three largest wireless players – together.
But in spring 2012 the country’s government ruled that the operators must remain separate entities. VNPT later submitted a new plan under which it proposed to hold on to Vinaphone while privatising Mobifone. This plan has now been approved by the prime minister.
Once separated, Mobifone will take over around VND1.6trn (US$76m) worth of debt from VNPT, the mobile unit’s chairman Le Mgoc Minh was quoted as saying.
In Vietnam’s mobile market Mobifone and Vinaphone trail Viettel, owned by the country’s defence ministry. Together the three operators have a 90% market share. Overall, the country has six wireless players.
