Mobile phone market gets new player

31/01/2008 -- 4:58 PM

Ha Noi (VNA) – T he Global Telecom Corp (GTel) has become the seventh enterprise to enter the country’s mobile phone market. Under the operating licence recently granted by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, GTel will also pro vide telecom infrastructure, said Pham Hong Hai, head of the ministry’s telecom department. GTel is a joint venture between the Ministry of Public Security and Russia’s second biggest mobile phone service provider Vimpelcom, which announced that it would invest 1 billion USD and provide technical assistance over the next few years to develop this mobile network. Viet Nam already has six mobile phone service providers: Vinaphone, MobiFone, Viettel, S Fone, EVN Telecom and HT Mobile. By the end of 2007, the country had around 40 million mobile phone subscribers, of which pre-paid subscribers account for between 70-80 percent. Last year also saw the highest number of mobile phone subscribers so far.-Enditem