Vietnamese mobile network operator Viettel Group announced plans to launch operations in Peru in 2013. Viettel plans to invest about $400 million in the country over the next 10 years. Viettel currently has operations in Cambodia, Laos, Haiti and Mozambique.
Dubbed Viettel Peru, the company expects to penetrate the market with low prices, said the general manager Tran Ngoc Thieu to the local press. Viettel will compete with Telefonica, Nextel and Claro in the Peru market, and said it expects to reach 338,000 subscribers by 2014.
Last May the carrier has signed a concession contract with the Peruvian government to secure a 25 megahertz spectrum license in the 1.9 GHz band.
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In early 2011 Viettel was awarded the fourth mobile-phone licence by ProInversion, Peru’s agency for private investment promotion. Viettel won out over other bidders – Wynner Systems from Russia, Americatel from Chile and Hits Telecom Holding Company from Brazil – by its proposal to offer free Internet service to 4,025 schools for a period of 10 years, more than three-times higher than the minimum requirements by Peruvian authorities and around two-times higher than the amount offered by other operator’s.
Thieu told local paper El Comercio that the carrier is currently conducting a study to find appropriate rates, assuring they will be lower than other operators. Viettel Peru said it plans to offer a special rate to low income customers, and that it expects plans for this segment to charge about $2 for 40 minutes of voice calls.
