The concept of a single Asean Community (AC) took a giant leap forward in the dying days of 2016 when Vietnamese telecom operator Viettel Group announced plans to remove roaming charges across its networks in Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR.
Viettel’s decision could cost the company up to $1 million a day, but it hopes its decision will result in more subscribers, an increase in the number of customers using roaming, and increased network useage, offsetting the losses.
Operated by the Vietnam Ministry of Defence (MoD), Viettel is the country’s largest mobile network operator and claims to have more than 90 million subscribers there and in the nine other countries in which it operates. In 2015 Viettel posted revenue of $10.8 billion, reporting a 20.8 percent year-on-year growth.
According to the company, subscribers of Viettel-owned telecom networks in Vietnam, Cambodia (Metfone) and Lao PDR (Unitel) will be charged at the local mobile fee when they make cross-border calls to each other commencing January 1, 2017.
Source: https://aecnewstoday.com/2017/viettel-removal-of-roaming-charges-first-sign-of-true-asean-community/