Vietnam’s Viettel Group has today announced expansion to its tenth market, with the launch of Halotel-branded 2G and 3G services in Tanzania.
Following one year of network construction and an initial USD736 million investment, as of 15 October 2015 Halotel offers 81% population coverage across all of the country’s 26 provinces – including rural and urban areas – with its infrastructure comprising 18,000km of fibre-optic cable and more than 3,000 base transceiver stations (BTS). Under the Halotel network 1,500 villages are now connected for the first time; in addition Viettel claims to have deployed fibre to 150 committees, 150 public hospitals, 150 police stations and 65 post offices, and expects to provide free internet connectivity to 450 public schools within the next three years.
Nguyen Manh Hung, General Director of Viettel Group, commented: ‘Our entry into Tanzania reflects our belief that when telecommunications services are accessible to everyone, and become a part of everyday life, they can be a driving force contributing to socio-economic development for the country as a whole.’
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in October 2014 Viettel was granted a licence to build and operate a 3G mobile network in Tanzania, with chairman Manh Nguyen pledging to invest USD1 billion in ‘telecoms and other services’.