Vietnam's Second Largest Mobile Phone Network to Go Public this Year

Vietnam's Second Largest Mobile Phone Network to Go Public this Year

The Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has approved the Vietnam Post & Telecoms Corp. (VNPT)'s plan to privatize the VMS Co., which operates the second largest mobile phone network in Vietnam.

"The privatization process will begin after the conclusion of the business cooperation contract between the Vietnam Mobile Telecommunications Services Company (VMS) and Sweden's Comvik Corporation, Comvik International Vietnam AB on May 19, 2005," said Nguyen Xuan Hao, head of VNPT Personnel Organization Department.

The State will hold 51% of VMS's shares while the remaining 49% will be sold out to domestic and foreign investors.

Another official of VNPT said that the privatization of MobiFone aims to gradually reduce the monopoly of VNPT in the Vietnamese mobile phone market and help MobiFone operate more effectively.

MobiFone currently has around 2.35 million subscribers, second only to Vinaphone's 2.6 million subscribers.

VMS and Comvik International Vietnam AB, a subsidy of Kinnevik (Sweden), have invested more than $456 million in the MobiFone network.

VietnamNet