Viettel launches mobile network in Tanzania

The military-run Viettel Group launched its telecom services under the brand name Halotel in Tanzania on October 15.

The official business in Tanzania, the fourth market for the group in Africa after Mozambique, Cameroon and Burundi, is expected to help remarkably increase Viettel’s footprint and influence in the region.

With a population of over 50 million, Tanzania is the most populous nation of the eight foreign markets where Viettel is providing services.

Halotel is the sole mobile network offering 3G connectivity across Tanzania with the fiber optic cable infrastructure 2.5 times stronger than the total fiber optic cables of the country.

Viettel envisions bringing its telecommunication services and information technology to every aspect of life, contributing to the local socio-economic development.

The project won the Best Investment Project 2014 in East, Central and West Africa Region.

General Director of the group Nguyen Manh Hung said it is possible to narrow the telecom and IT gap in a short period of time, and to that end, telecommunication and information technology offer brilliant opportunities to boost socio-economic development for developing countries such as Vietnam, Tanzania and Mozambique.

Viettel is operating in 10 countries in Asia, the Americas and Africa with the total population of over 260 million, including 75 million customers.

In 2014, it grossed nearly 10 billion USD in revenue, 1.2 billion USD of which were from abroad.

Viettel started investing in Tanzania in 2011. It plans to provide 3G access to at least 4,000 villages, accounting for 70 percent of the country's total number of villages by 2017.-VNA