Unitel, a joint venture between Vietnam’s military telecom company Viettel and Laos’ Asia Telecom Company, has been doing its utmost to ensure smooth telecom links for the 25th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 25).

Unitel Deputy General Director Nguyen Ngoc Anh said that to prepare for the region’s largest sports event, the company had invested 24,000 USD in installing equipment to provide free Internet wifi services at several main SEA Games venues such as the Chao Anuvong Stadium, the Main Press Centre (MPC) and the athletes’ village.

Unitel has added 15 base-transceiver stations (BTS) at competition venues and assigned staff on duty round the clock in case of any disorder. The company also provided 5,250 free pre-paid sim cards worth 40,000 USD in total and reduced 50 percent of charges of calls from Laos to other Southeast Asian countries.

Starting operation only on October 16, Unitel boasts the largest number of BTS in Laos with 900 stations, accounting for 35 percent of the country’s total.

The company sets a target of becoming the leading telecom service provider in Laos./.