The country’s seventh mobile network Beeline had 1 million of its simcards activated just 80 days after its official launch, the service provider said.

The Hanoi-headquartered Tel Mobile Joint-stock Company, which operates Beeline, said in a press release last week that it had over 2 million simcards distributed in the markets including the activated ones.

“This figure of 1 million subscribers, which shows the Vietnamese consumers’ trust in Beeline, is very significant for us. It has proven Beeline’s constant efforts to bring a world mobile network with the best quality at the best prices,” said Alexey Blyumin, general; director of the GTel Mobile JSC.

Beeline has also established its network infrastructure with a coverage reaching 15 million people in Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang after just eight months of network deployment, compared with the global average rate of 16 months, the company said.

A month later it increased its signal coverage to eight provinces that account for 26 percent of the country’s population. Beeline would continuously expand its coverage to other provinces till November, the company said.

On October 1, the company launched a special offer for new subscribers, with 19 free on-net SMS messages everyday after the first on-net SMS at the rate of 250 VND per message.

The company aims to become the country’s “most favourite network”, said Blyumin.

Gtel Mobile is a joint venture between the Global Telecommunication Corp under the Ministry of Public Security and Vimpelcom, Russia’s second largest mobile phone operator who hold a 60 percent and 40 percent stake, respectively.

According to figures from the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper, Vietnam now has more than 100 million mobile phone subscribers, with VinaPhone, MobiFone and Viettel together holding over 90 percent of the market share.

Post-paid subscribers account for 3 percent to 5 percent of the total, compared to 10 percent to 15 percent several years ago. Meanwhile, they contribute 50 percent to the total revenue, according to the newspaper./.