In Bac Ai district, Ninh Thuan province, two years ago, hundreds of people signed up to use Viettel Money within days of its introduction in the district. This was almost unbelievable in a mountainous district with sparse population, low internet usage, and residents unfamiliar with new financial services like digital finance and e-wallets.

Mr. Nam, owner of one of the first grocery stores to accept payments via Viettel Money, noted that the majority of registrants were farmers, housewives, elderly individuals, or phone users without internet connectivity. They mainly wanted to use the service for transfers, deposits, and withdrawals without needing to visit a bank. "Our district is very large, mostly hills and mountains, with only one bank branch in the center, making it very difficult for locals to travel," Mr. Nam said. "I believe Viettel Money can truly bring convenience to people because there are many transaction support points like our store in the area." Viettel's service is easily accessible to everyone because it does not require users to link to a bank account and does not need internet connectivity for transactions, only requiring mobile phone signals.

Viettel Money bridges the technology gap, allowing people from urban to rural areas, from deltas to mountains, and from remote islands to easily connect, conduct exchanges, and buy goods using just a phone number.

Two years later, "market 4.0" areas with red banners and signs operating on Viettel's digital financial services can be found throughout the country, from mountains to islands. Similarly, wherever Viettel's coverage extends, platforms like TV360, My Viettel, and Viettel Post are established. Telecommunications waves, the backbone for many digital services and daily communication, are also technologies that Viettel has mastered and exported to 10 countries across 3 continents.

Looking at Viettel's pioneering milestones in high technology, digital infrastructure, and telecommunications, few people would think that 35 years ago it was just a company constructing tall buildings, pulling cables. "Looking back on the 35-year journey, the lesson left by Viettel's generations is to never rest on their laurels. In times of ease and success, it is necessary to invest in the future, continuously setting high goals to seek breakthroughs" Major General Tao Duc Thang, Chairman and General Director of Viettel Group, stated at the 35th anniversary celebration.

FROM ERECTING POLES AND PULLING CABLES TO THE MIRACLE OF TRUNK LINE 1A

In 1989, the Electronics and Information Equipment Corporation (Sigelco) - the predecessor of Viettel - was established from 4 factories of the Signal Corps. Soldiers who were accustomed to technical work and had never worried about their livelihoods suddenly had to simultaneously manage independent salary payments and produce equipment. To "sustain themselves," Sigelco engaged in cable pulling and pole erection, work closely related to their expertise.

But easy tasks didn't come to the fledgling company. Sigelco only received projects that were complex in terrain, challenging in terms of technical requirements, and financially constrained—projects that no other company would take. Without a word of complaint or criticism, Sigelco executed all the contracts that came its way.

Gradually, the experience accumulated through the most challenging projects helped Sigelco become the number one company in telecommunications construction. Key national high-pole projects were all constructed by Sigelco, including Vietnam's tallest television tower, the longest first digital microwave line in Vietnam, laying the foundation for the transition from analog to digital technology.

During the ascent to number one in the telecommunications construction sector, Sigelco nurtured the dream of building its own telecommunications network. Before the opportunity arose, Viettel (as Sigelco was later named) boldly undertook the construction of the first military optical trunk line - 1A from 2 idle cables on the 500KV North-South power line.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Information and Communications, former Chairman and General Director of Viettel, presented the deployment plan for trunk line 1A.

Soldiers carried out this task without prior experience, without any foreign experts advising. Complete independence was a mandatory requirement to ensure security for a project serving national defense. The difficulty lay in the fact that an optical trunk line required 4 fibers: 1 receiving, 1 transmitting, and 2 backups (receiving and transmitting). However, Viettel only had 2 fibers, so one fiber had to be used for both receiving and transmitting, with the remaining fiber as a backup. Meanwhile, the North-South route was over 2,300km long, 23 times longer than the longest single-fiber optical link ever deployed in the world at that time.

Two years later, the miracle was established. From an unknown company that had never undertaken a major technology project, Viettel had an internationally renowned project thanks to its readiness to embark on new, difficult tasks for the country's benefit. The first miracle proved Viettel's entrepreneurial spirit from its inception: Never stop on the journey to find new missions.

"The optical trunk line 1A project created a generation of self-sufficient Viettel people. All that Viettel has done has never lacked self-reliance," Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Information and Communications, former Chairman and General Director of Viettel, and one of the key technical personnel in project 1A, recalled.

VIETNAM'S TELECOMMUNICATIONS TURNING POINTS

With that spirit, Viettel continued to create turning points in Vietnam's telecommunications with the VoIP 178 service launched in 2000, becoming Vietnam's first "OTT application."

The implementation of VoIP 178 was not easy, even very difficult due to infrastructure dependence. But this pressure also motivated Viettel to establish its own telecommunications network and successfully implement VoIP 178, setting new telecommunications standards, and reducing long-distance telephone service prices to unprecedented lows, only 25% of previous rates.

"How can Vietnam bring the latest telecommunications technologies and services from around the world to Vietnam when we are so far behind? How can we open up the market? Viettel is the pioneering corporate to do so," said Mr. Mai Liem Truc, former Director General of the General Post Office.

VoIP 178 brought Viettel approximately USD 10 million in capital, leveraging it to think beyond: Entering the mobile service market, which was then the playing field of a few businesses.

With VoIP 178, Viettel also initiated many promotional programs and big prizes in the telecommunications market.

There is a simple story that best illustrates the achievement of the mobile revolution that Viettel has created. It is a story shared by former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung with Mr. Do Trung Ta, former Minister of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, then Special Envoy of the Prime Minister: "I passed through An Giang and saw a little boy herding buffalo holding a mobile phone to make a call, sir. That replaces the image of the boy blowing the flute. I am happy for you!"

The lives of the buffalo herding boy and tens of millions of Vietnamese people have changed thanks to Viettel's mobile network. The reason mobile phones in Vietnam were the playground of a few businesses at the time was due to the very high demands for capital and infrastructure. The capital Viettel had at that time was only enough for 150 transceivers, covering 3 cities. With innovative approaches, leveraging the context of the 2G equipment market worldwide, Viettel devised a strategy of buying on deferred payment terms to have enough 5,000 transceivers, covering "flooded territory". Viettel also implemented a never-before-seen telecommunications network design in Vietnam, "dividing regions" on the map to place transceivers, each region using a different transceiver design. On October 15, 2004, Viettel officially launched its mobile network with the prefix 098. Within 2 years, Viettel had 5,000 transceivers, more than the total number of all other companies deployed in the previous 10 years.

Starting as a latecomer, having to find a different way to "catch up" with major domestic telecommunications companies when starting business, to the new 5G mobile generation, Viettel has maintained its pioneering position. In 2019, Viettel successfully made the first 5G call in Vietnam. The call was made on a real network, rather than on a demo device or in a lab, causing a stir in the community both inside and outside the country, becoming a pride of the Corporation. Previously, with 2G, 3G, 4G technologies, Vietnam implemented them later than the world from 8-12 years, but with 5G, the newest technology and possibly the foundation for a digital society, Vietnam is keeping pace with the world, even being one of the countries to successfully test 5G the earliest.

Now, Viettel's 5G service has been experimentally deployed at about 500 stations in 63 provinces and cities and is ready for broad deployment in 2024 with "golden band" - the optimal bandwidth for 5G that Viettel successfully bid for in March. In foreign countries, by the end of 2023, Viettel had 4 market companies successfully testing 5G: Mytel, Metfone, Bitel, and Telemor.

THE EXPEDITION TO 10 INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

As early as 2006, when the domestic market of 90 million people still had ample potential, Viettel chose an unprecedentedly difficult path: investing abroad.

Many questions were raised: The domestic market was not yet stable, the business was still carrying debts for network construction, and the staff were just beginning to learn business management. How could they venture into foreign markets with different languages, cultures, and legal systems?

“The vision of Viettel is to be among the top 10 largest telecom operators in the world. Without investing abroad, it would be impossible to achieve this with just the Vietnamese market”, asserted Lieutenant General Hoang Anh Xuan, former General Director of Viettel Group, who was behind Viettel’s initial decisions to invest abroad.

Reaching out to the world was a dream not only of Viettel but in the telecommunications field, Viettel was the pioneer in making that dream a reality.

Starting with Cambodia and Laos, then moving to Haiti, Mozambique, East Timor, Burundi, Tanzania, Peru, and most recently, Myanmar. Viettel gradually entered Asian, Latin American, and African countries, competing with formidable competitors in the global telecommunications market.

Viettel faced numerous difficulties, from obtaining licenses, staffing, and cultural differences to political upheavals and pricing challenges, as the countries they invested in (except Peru) were all poor.

In Haiti, just before signing the joint venture contract, the country experienced an unprecedentedly devastating earthquake, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and over 80% of infrastructure destruction. While other telecom companies withdrew from the rubble, Viettel continued to invest, fulfilling their promise of “technology from the heart” to help rebuild the nation.

Since 2019, the Lumicash e-wallet has directly reached more than 168,000 refugees, safely and accurately conducting over 21 million USD in humanitarian financial transactions. Lumicash transactions are considered the official channel at all refugee camps of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Burundi.

Then there were the civil wars in Burundi or Myanmar, where decisions like “withdraw or stay to protect assets and ensure connectivity for the people” were always tough choices for Viettel’s leadership. The spirit, discipline, and determination of the soldiers kept Viettel from backing down.

With a reasonable strategy and genuine desire to bring technology to solve problems for the partner countries, Viettel continuously created miracles in the countries it invested in. To date, Viettel’s international brands have held the number one position in 7 out of 10 markets and continue to pursue the dream of building a digital life in these regions.

Building a digital society, popularizing services and digital technology

Always seeking new directions, new ways of doing things, and setting high goals, Viettel has, over 35 years, accumulated total consolidated revenue of over 2.2 million billion VND, with pre-tax profits nearing 540 trillion VND. Viettel has always been a leading enterprise in contributing to the state budget, with accumulated contributions to date exceeding 433 trillion VND, being recognized as one of the most efficiently run state-owned enterprises.

“At this stage of development, Viettel has set for itself the mission of being a pioneer, a key player in creating a digital society, popularizing technology and digital services in Vietnam as well as in the countries where the Group invests, becoming a core component in building a high-tech defense industry complex”, said Major General Tao Duc Thang.

This mission is reflected not only in stories of people in a mountainous district paying bills via Viettel Money but also through solutions such as Smart Operations Centers in 35 provinces and cities, AI virtual assistants in the court system, online learning platforms, remote medical consultation developed by Viettel, and more. A digital life has clearly taken shape in a country with the third-largest GDP (PPP) in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, 5G devices “Made in Vietnam” – high-tech products in the manufacturing sector – are also going abroad, being distributed in distant countries. At the beginning of 2024, Viettel astonished the world by announcing 5G circuit boards and chips at the world’s largest mobile technology exhibition (MWC). To date, Viettel is the only telecom company in the world capable of producing telecommunications equipment, making Vietnam one of the first six countries in the world to master 5G technology.

The 5G DFE chip developed by Viettel, with computing power of 1,000 trillion calculations per second, marks the mastery of 5G system equipment technology.

Few people know that Viettel started researching military communication equipment in 2017, and now has over 60 types of products across 10 high-tech weaponry and technical equipment sectors according to the world’s most modern combat models.

As the largest telecom company in Vietnam, many wonder if Viettel ventured into the extremely difficult fields of defense industry and high technology because of excess funds. Indeed, having financial resources is a necessary condition, but in reality, the desire to master technology, to master industrial production – the backbone of a resilient economy – has been Viettel’s aspiration since its early days.

“At Viettel, aspirations never stop. We boldly declare that Viettel will be a global technology group, keeping pace with the world to spread new technologies to every corner, ensuring everyone has no technology gap”, Major General Tao Duc Thang stated. “Viettel appreciates what it is enjoying today, and also takes responsibility for nurturing, cultivating, and continuing to sow seeds for Viettel’s future.”

With a global fiber optic network totaling nine times the earth’s circumference, 70,000 telecom stations, the largest data center system in Vietnam, and important human resource, experience, and technology foundations laid from previous stages, Viettel is confident in its role as a pioneer and key player in building the national digital platform. All current achievements stem from a long-term vision and unceasing aspirations over more than three decades.

“From a very small enterprise, with aspiration, belief, and the spirit of taking on unimaginable tasks, Viettel has grown into a large corporation, contributing thousands of billions to the state budget annually. This is a story that inspires many people and many Vietnamese enterprises, especially digital technology enterprises, to take on a national mission,” said Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, who has been associated with Viettel since its early days.