France Telecom aims to buy a large stake in Vietnam's second-largest mobile phone service provider, MobiFone, state media quoted its chief executive as saying.
"We hope to participate with the highest stake possible," France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard was quoted by the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper on Tuesday as saying.
"Vietnam is a market with potential for growth. Moreover, when we seek the partnership we aim to build a lasting relationship with a long-term vision," Lombard said in his first trip to Vietnam last week.
Mobifone said on Monday it had shortlisted six foreign firms which would bid to advise the state-run company on its partial privatisation, including an IPO expected in 2008.
MobiFone said Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Rothschild and UBS would bid to become the adviser for the Hanoi-based firm. It gave no timeframe for the bidding.
MobiFone, known formally as Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company and owned by Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications (VNPT), has said the IPO would take place early next year and VNPT would only hold one-third of the shares in MobiFone.
Strategic shareholders would have one third and outsiders the remaining stake, MobiFone's director Le Ngoc Minh said in May.
Foreign telecom giants including Vodafone and British Telecommunications Plc have said they wanted to be equity partners in the company.
MobiFone uses GSM technology and has about 8.5 million subscribers, or 35 percent share of the domestic market where it competes with military-run Viettel and state-run Vinaphone, which is also controlled by VNPT.
Privatising MobiFone, the first move in restructuring the telecommunications industry, was slow and difficult because Vietnam did not have a legal guide for the process, officials have said.
Source: Reuters
Showing posts with label MobiFone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MobiFone. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
Investors impatient for telecom equitisation
The equitisation of some telecom firms in Vietnam was announced by state agencies in 2005, but so far none of the telecom firms have been equitised. In the eyes of investors, the equitisation process of Vietnamese telecom companies is going at a snail’s pace.
According to sources from MobiFone, this company is completing formalities for equitisation this year, and in early 2008 it will perform IPO.
Around five partners have expressed their desire to buy MobiFone stocks to become the firm’s strategic investors. However, as it is currently selecting a consultant only, MobiFone isn’t considering this issue yet.
Le Ngoc Minh, MobiFone’s director, said that he didn’t know what the value of MobiFone was at this moment.
Once MobiFone finds its consultant, tasks related to equitisation will be quickly fulfilled within 2007 to prepare for the IPO early next year.
Also a subsidiary of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), VinaPhone can’t immediately conduct equitisation like MobiFone. VinaPhone director Hoang Trung Hai said that there was no detailed plan about VinaPhone’s equitisation yet. VNPT is focusing on the equitisation of MobiFone and VinaPhone will be equitised after MobiFone’s equitisation is completed.
Other mobile information companies that will be equitised after MobiFone and VinaPhone are Viettel Telecom and EVN Telecom. However, they have made any moves for this task. Perhaps they want to learn something from MobiFone and VinaPhone.
Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics Tran Duc Lai doesn’t agree with the idea that mobile information firms are doing business well so they don’t want to equitisate, which is responsible for the tardiness in equitisation.
“Implementation of equitisation is different for each company and this task will be conducted suitably to their ability. Viettel Telecom and EVN Telecom are new businesses and they are designing equitisation plans that are appropriate to their actual situations,” Mr. Lai said.
While MobiFone is urgently promoting its equitisation process, equitisation seems to be not a priority of Viettel Telecom. Perhaps this company is afraid that its equitisation will attract small shareholders who will focus on short-term benefits and this will influence its strategy to build a big corporation in the long run.
Viettel Telecom’s plan in the near future is developing strongly in rural and remote areas, where benefit doesn’t come in immediately, so shareholders will not like this. The firm, thus, will equitise its subsidies firstly.
Viettel Deputy General Director Nguyen Manh Hung said that Viettel had established a joint stock company on value added services for mobile phones and this company would be equitised first. EVN Telecom has also chosen the same path of equitisation as Viettel.
The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI) has sent many documents urging telecom companies to quickly perform equitisation, which shows how impatient investors are and how great their interest is in shares of mobile information service companies.
At the Vietnam Enterprise Forum, under the framework of the mid-term Consultative Group Meeting 2007, held on May 30 in Hanoi, Alain Cany, Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce (Eurocham), said that foreign investors were anxious to take part in the equitisation process of a significant field like telecom.
“To help foreign investors have the best preparation for their participation into the telecom sector, Eurocham and its members hope that the Vietnamese Government will introduce an itinerary for the participation of foreign investors soon,” he said.
The Financial manager of Norway’s Telenor group said that when Telenor conducted equitisation the group faced a lot of problems. This group was afraid that it would lose control over the firm. Some said that as Telenor was known in many countries and it was a strong brand equitisation was unnecessary.
However, with his experience, the Telenor official said that Vietnamese telecom firms should speed up the equitisation process and bring their stocks to the stock market as soon as possible. However, he agreed that appraising the value of shares of telecom firms is often very complicated.
Mark Shuper, Morgan Stanley Bank’s Managing Director, said that value appraisal for telecom companies is best when they are in the development phase, so they should choose the best time for doing this task.
However, he commented that Vietnamese telecom companies would not be equitised this year. “This process will take place strongly next year or the following years and of course, we are always ready to participate in this process,” he said.
Source: VNE
According to sources from MobiFone, this company is completing formalities for equitisation this year, and in early 2008 it will perform IPO.
Around five partners have expressed their desire to buy MobiFone stocks to become the firm’s strategic investors. However, as it is currently selecting a consultant only, MobiFone isn’t considering this issue yet.
Le Ngoc Minh, MobiFone’s director, said that he didn’t know what the value of MobiFone was at this moment.
Once MobiFone finds its consultant, tasks related to equitisation will be quickly fulfilled within 2007 to prepare for the IPO early next year.
Also a subsidiary of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), VinaPhone can’t immediately conduct equitisation like MobiFone. VinaPhone director Hoang Trung Hai said that there was no detailed plan about VinaPhone’s equitisation yet. VNPT is focusing on the equitisation of MobiFone and VinaPhone will be equitised after MobiFone’s equitisation is completed.
Other mobile information companies that will be equitised after MobiFone and VinaPhone are Viettel Telecom and EVN Telecom. However, they have made any moves for this task. Perhaps they want to learn something from MobiFone and VinaPhone.
Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics Tran Duc Lai doesn’t agree with the idea that mobile information firms are doing business well so they don’t want to equitisate, which is responsible for the tardiness in equitisation.
“Implementation of equitisation is different for each company and this task will be conducted suitably to their ability. Viettel Telecom and EVN Telecom are new businesses and they are designing equitisation plans that are appropriate to their actual situations,” Mr. Lai said.
While MobiFone is urgently promoting its equitisation process, equitisation seems to be not a priority of Viettel Telecom. Perhaps this company is afraid that its equitisation will attract small shareholders who will focus on short-term benefits and this will influence its strategy to build a big corporation in the long run.
Viettel Telecom’s plan in the near future is developing strongly in rural and remote areas, where benefit doesn’t come in immediately, so shareholders will not like this. The firm, thus, will equitise its subsidies firstly.
Viettel Deputy General Director Nguyen Manh Hung said that Viettel had established a joint stock company on value added services for mobile phones and this company would be equitised first. EVN Telecom has also chosen the same path of equitisation as Viettel.
The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI) has sent many documents urging telecom companies to quickly perform equitisation, which shows how impatient investors are and how great their interest is in shares of mobile information service companies.
At the Vietnam Enterprise Forum, under the framework of the mid-term Consultative Group Meeting 2007, held on May 30 in Hanoi, Alain Cany, Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce (Eurocham), said that foreign investors were anxious to take part in the equitisation process of a significant field like telecom.
“To help foreign investors have the best preparation for their participation into the telecom sector, Eurocham and its members hope that the Vietnamese Government will introduce an itinerary for the participation of foreign investors soon,” he said.
The Financial manager of Norway’s Telenor group said that when Telenor conducted equitisation the group faced a lot of problems. This group was afraid that it would lose control over the firm. Some said that as Telenor was known in many countries and it was a strong brand equitisation was unnecessary.
However, with his experience, the Telenor official said that Vietnamese telecom firms should speed up the equitisation process and bring their stocks to the stock market as soon as possible. However, he agreed that appraising the value of shares of telecom firms is often very complicated.
Mark Shuper, Morgan Stanley Bank’s Managing Director, said that value appraisal for telecom companies is best when they are in the development phase, so they should choose the best time for doing this task.
However, he commented that Vietnamese telecom companies would not be equitised this year. “This process will take place strongly next year or the following years and of course, we are always ready to participate in this process,” he said.
Source: VNE
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
VinaPhone to be equitised after MobiFone
The General Director of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) said that the equitisation of VinaPhone information mobile network is only performed after the equitisation of MobiFone is finalised.
The General Director said that the equitisation scheme of VinaPhone is being designed. VNPT is now focusing on the equitisation of MobiFone and when this task is complete, the group will apply lessons that it learns from MobiFone equitisation to apply for VinaPhone.
“We can’t perform equitisation of the two mobile phone networks at the same time when we don’t have any experience,” he said.
The equitisation of VinaPhone and MobiFone was permitted by the Government in early 2005. But until now, MobiFone is still seeking a suitable consultant and a strategic investor. MobiFone’s shares will be listed on the bourse in 2008 at the earliest time. Thus, till late 2008, VNPT can think of the equitisation of VinaPhone.
Hoang Trung Hai, VinaPhone Director said that the difficulty for the equitisation of VinaPhone is that this network is not independent in term of finance. Its business closely depends on the system of 64 post offices of 64 provinces and cities in Vietnam. To prepare for equitisation, VinaPhone will have to consider turnover, tasks, etc. for each province, which takes time and is very complicated.
According to Mr Hai, investors are enthusiastic for stocks of telecom companies. VinaPhone has received many investors who want to buy its stocks though the firm is not been equitised yet.
“However, we can’t tell before hand because we don’t have guidance from the leaders of VNPT,” VinaPhone Director said.
Source: VNE
The General Director said that the equitisation scheme of VinaPhone is being designed. VNPT is now focusing on the equitisation of MobiFone and when this task is complete, the group will apply lessons that it learns from MobiFone equitisation to apply for VinaPhone.
“We can’t perform equitisation of the two mobile phone networks at the same time when we don’t have any experience,” he said.
The equitisation of VinaPhone and MobiFone was permitted by the Government in early 2005. But until now, MobiFone is still seeking a suitable consultant and a strategic investor. MobiFone’s shares will be listed on the bourse in 2008 at the earliest time. Thus, till late 2008, VNPT can think of the equitisation of VinaPhone.
Hoang Trung Hai, VinaPhone Director said that the difficulty for the equitisation of VinaPhone is that this network is not independent in term of finance. Its business closely depends on the system of 64 post offices of 64 provinces and cities in Vietnam. To prepare for equitisation, VinaPhone will have to consider turnover, tasks, etc. for each province, which takes time and is very complicated.
According to Mr Hai, investors are enthusiastic for stocks of telecom companies. VinaPhone has received many investors who want to buy its stocks though the firm is not been equitised yet.
“However, we can’t tell before hand because we don’t have guidance from the leaders of VNPT,” VinaPhone Director said.
Source: VNE
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Burning race to invest in telecom
Foreign telecom firms have made some moves in Vietnam: investing in Vietnamese telecom companies by purchasing stocks. However, it is said to be difficult because the supply is limited.
In September 2006, in a press conference before the Vietnam Telecom 2006 exhibition in HCM City, the chief representative of France Telecom, frankly stated: “We want to buy stocks of some Vietnamese telecom companies, for example stocks of mobile information companies like MobiFone, VinaPhone…”
Ten months have passed and many moves have been made, perhaps including clandestine negotiations among related sites, and the ‘faces of giants’ have gradually appeared.
In early May 2007, Norway’s Telenor, the biggest mobile information and television service provider in northern Europe, sponsored the “Mobile Vietnam 2007” event in Hanoi and expressed its plan to invest in Vietnamese mobile information firms.
On May 29, in a press conference in HCM City on its social charity programmes in Vietnam, a representative of SK Telecom said that the firm wanted to equitise the CDMA technology-based S-Fone mobile information network, a business cooperation project with Vietnam’s Saigon Telecom JS Company.
On June 13, at the press conference to introduce the Vietnam Comm 2007 exhibition in HCM City, Bui Quoc Viet, Director of the Postal Information Centre of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), said: “Many foreign telecom groups have opened representative offices in Vietnam to wait for opportunities to invest in mobile information companies.”
According to some sources, American telecom groups want to buy stocks of Vietnam’s mobile information companies through Korean and Taiwanese firms.
Three mobile information firms that are targeted by foreign telecom groups – MobiFone, VinaPhone and Viettel Mobile – will sell stocks in the near future.
Bui Quoc Viet, Director of the VNPT’s Postal Information Centre, said that under the current rules, foreign investors couldn’t buy more than 49% of the stocks of Vietnamese mobile information firms. By the end of 2008 or early 2009, foreign investors will be allowed to make joint ventures with Vietnamese partners and after 2010 they can establish wholly foreign-owned firms in the telecom field in Vietnam.
In the race to invest in Vietnam’s mobile information companies, France Telecom has the advantage of being an early comer. It is now the second largest mobile information service provider in Europe, with 88 million mobile phone subscribers, 48 million fixed phone subscribers and 11 million Internet subscribers in 220 countries and territories. Its revenue was Eur49 billion in 2005.
Another big rival is NTT-DoCoMo from Japan, which has more than 50 million mobile phone subscribers and 135 million Internet subscribers. This group began its world expansion strategy in 2005 through modern value added services for mobile phone subscribers.
Norway’s Telenor has opened a representative office in Vietnam but its name is not popular. This group has more than 40 million customers in Asia and in the first quarter of 2007, Telenor boosted its investment in this region with more than $350 million of investment capital, up 40% over the same period of 2006.
Other big names that have opened representative offices in Vietnam are VodaPhone of the UK and Lucent of France.
The participation of big names in the race to invest in mobile information companies in Vietnam has made the competition fiercer but they still have to wait till Vietnamese companies announce the names of their foreign partners.
Source: VNE
In September 2006, in a press conference before the Vietnam Telecom 2006 exhibition in HCM City, the chief representative of France Telecom, frankly stated: “We want to buy stocks of some Vietnamese telecom companies, for example stocks of mobile information companies like MobiFone, VinaPhone…”
Ten months have passed and many moves have been made, perhaps including clandestine negotiations among related sites, and the ‘faces of giants’ have gradually appeared.
In early May 2007, Norway’s Telenor, the biggest mobile information and television service provider in northern Europe, sponsored the “Mobile Vietnam 2007” event in Hanoi and expressed its plan to invest in Vietnamese mobile information firms.
On May 29, in a press conference in HCM City on its social charity programmes in Vietnam, a representative of SK Telecom said that the firm wanted to equitise the CDMA technology-based S-Fone mobile information network, a business cooperation project with Vietnam’s Saigon Telecom JS Company.
On June 13, at the press conference to introduce the Vietnam Comm 2007 exhibition in HCM City, Bui Quoc Viet, Director of the Postal Information Centre of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), said: “Many foreign telecom groups have opened representative offices in Vietnam to wait for opportunities to invest in mobile information companies.”
According to some sources, American telecom groups want to buy stocks of Vietnam’s mobile information companies through Korean and Taiwanese firms.
Three mobile information firms that are targeted by foreign telecom groups – MobiFone, VinaPhone and Viettel Mobile – will sell stocks in the near future.
Bui Quoc Viet, Director of the VNPT’s Postal Information Centre, said that under the current rules, foreign investors couldn’t buy more than 49% of the stocks of Vietnamese mobile information firms. By the end of 2008 or early 2009, foreign investors will be allowed to make joint ventures with Vietnamese partners and after 2010 they can establish wholly foreign-owned firms in the telecom field in Vietnam.
In the race to invest in Vietnam’s mobile information companies, France Telecom has the advantage of being an early comer. It is now the second largest mobile information service provider in Europe, with 88 million mobile phone subscribers, 48 million fixed phone subscribers and 11 million Internet subscribers in 220 countries and territories. Its revenue was Eur49 billion in 2005.
Another big rival is NTT-DoCoMo from Japan, which has more than 50 million mobile phone subscribers and 135 million Internet subscribers. This group began its world expansion strategy in 2005 through modern value added services for mobile phone subscribers.
Norway’s Telenor has opened a representative office in Vietnam but its name is not popular. This group has more than 40 million customers in Asia and in the first quarter of 2007, Telenor boosted its investment in this region with more than $350 million of investment capital, up 40% over the same period of 2006.
Other big names that have opened representative offices in Vietnam are VodaPhone of the UK and Lucent of France.
The participation of big names in the race to invest in mobile information companies in Vietnam has made the competition fiercer but they still have to wait till Vietnamese companies announce the names of their foreign partners.
Source: VNE
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Vietnam MobiFone tenders for equitization advisor
Vietnam's second-largest mobile phone firm, MobiFone, said Wednesday it would pick a consultant next month to advise on its equitization, the first move in the restructuring of the telecommunications industry.
The Hanoi-based firm, owned by Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications group (VNPT), said in a statement it would open an international tender to choose the consultant.
MobiFone, the short name for Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Co., gave no further details, but said candidates must submit their bids by May 16.
MobiFone, which uses GSM technology, has yet to announce a timetable for the IPO or its listing, but the company, along with number one mobile phone firm Vinaphone is expected to list by the end of 2007.
It added 2.5 million subscribers last year, taking its total customers to 6.5 million, a rise of 60% from 2005.
The number then expanded another 30.8% in the first quarter of this year to 8.5 million, the company said.
Vietnam, whose economy grows around 8% a year, had 27.5 million telephones at the end of 2006, a rise of nearly 80% from 2005, with mobile phones accounting for 69%.
Source: Thanh Nien
The Hanoi-based firm, owned by Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications group (VNPT), said in a statement it would open an international tender to choose the consultant.
MobiFone, the short name for Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Co., gave no further details, but said candidates must submit their bids by May 16.
MobiFone, which uses GSM technology, has yet to announce a timetable for the IPO or its listing, but the company, along with number one mobile phone firm Vinaphone is expected to list by the end of 2007.
It added 2.5 million subscribers last year, taking its total customers to 6.5 million, a rise of 60% from 2005.
The number then expanded another 30.8% in the first quarter of this year to 8.5 million, the company said.
Vietnam, whose economy grows around 8% a year, had 27.5 million telephones at the end of 2006, a rise of nearly 80% from 2005, with mobile phones accounting for 69%.
Source: Thanh Nien
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