FPT joins mobile virtual network operator market in Vietnam
VOV.VN - FPT Retail, an arm of FPT – one of the leading IT service providers in Vietnam – launched its virtual wireless communications service in Vietnam on January 11, becoming the fifth mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the country.
The deployment of the service is expected to help FPT take advantage of its existing infrastructure facilities. The company currently has a system of more than 800 FPT Shop stores in 63 provinces and cities, selling over 1.5 million smartphones and IoT devices each year. As part of the FPT ecosystem, the new mobile service can be applied with advanced technologies such as cloud, chatbot, and AI.
The new service is expected to target a group of young, tech-savvy customers. There are also business customers, households and those using IoT and M2M services.
A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a reseller of wireless communications services. An MVNO leases wireless capacity from a third-party mobile network operator at wholesale prices and resells it to consumers at reduced retail prices under its own business brand.
So far the Ministry of Information and Communications has licensed five mobile virtual network operators in Vietnam, namely Itel, Wintel, My Local, VNSky and FPT. Itel and Masan (Wintel) lease infrastructure from Vinaphone, while FPT, My Local, VNSky use the network provided by MobiFone. Military-run Viettel has yet to cooperate with any partners in this field.
According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, there are about 2.5 million MVNO subscribers in Vietnam, accounting for a small part of the 130 million subscribers in the domestic market.
