Viettel plans to expand to Indonesia, Nigeria

Vietnam’s Viettel is reportedly eyeing a foray into Indonesia and Nigeria as part of its international expansion drive.

The military-run operator’s Viettel Global subsidiary is planning to enter the two markets due to their large populations.

As of June last year, Indonesia had a population of 258 million while Nigeria had a population of 187 million. Viettel expects that this large addressable market will help establish the conditions that would allow it to expand to other markets in the future.

Viettel Global had a combined 24 million subscribers in nine overseas markets – Laos, Cambodia, East Timor, Cameroon, Haiti, Mozambique, Burundi, Peru, and Tanzania. The company reported revenue of $1.04 billion last year and is targeting $1.3 billion in revenue this year.

Viettel is also moving to enter the Myanmar market, having won the tender to be the 49%-owned partner to a consortium of local ICT companies that will become the market’s fourth operator.

But the company is facing tough competition in Africa from rivals such as Orange, MTN, Movistar, Claro, Digicel, and Axiata.