Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) said its telecom arm, EVN Telecom, will invest nearly VND24 billion (US$1.5 billion) to expand operations from now to 2010.
The investment will go to fiber optic cable system construction, mobile phone service network expansion and broadband internet service upgrades, Ha Noi Moi Daily, the mouthpiece of Hanoi Government, said.
EVN Telecom will build the fiber optic cable system to reach over 80 per cent of districts nationwide, and raise transmission capacity of the national optic transmission axis to 100Gbps, regional line capacity to 10Gbps and local transmission capacity to 2.5Gbps, it said.
The unlisted EVN Telecom will also pour money into developing its flagship mobile phone service during the four-year period.
The company plans to increase its base transceiver stations (BTS) to 5,000-6,000 from the current 1,000 units plus, hoping to serve eight million mobile phone clients.
EVN Telecom will also speed up the expansion of its broadband internet service based on the EV-DC architecture. “EVN Telecom strives to keep 10 per cent of internet market share by 2010,” a company official said.
In 2007 alone, EVN Telecom plans to invest over VND3,700 billion to erect 1,500 BTS.
EVN Telecom now serves around one million clients, a large majority in rural areas. It expects to sign up 2.5 million telecom service subscribers in 2007.
EVN Telecom hopes to attain total revenues over VND3,000 billion in 2007, a huge jump from nearly VND900 billion in 2007.
EVN Telecom will go public in 2008. (New Hanoi)
Vietnamese
