Vietnam's three biggest mobile phone operators, VinaPhone, MobiFone and Viettel, will be equitized in early 2007, according to local newspaper Vietnam News on Wednesday.

MobiFone would be the first to go public since its equitization plan would be completed by the end of this year, the newspaper quoted Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Tran Duc Lai as saying. The state would hold controlling stake in MobiFone, Lai said.

The equitization of the operators would lower the state's investment burden, and help them renew technologies and improve service quality, he said, noting that it would transform the local telecommunications industry into a business with much bigger revenue.

After the equitization, shares of VinaPhone and MobiFone are expected to be listed in the local stock market.

Now, many foreign firms are planning to buy shares of Vietnamese telecommunications companies. Specifically, Comvick of Sweden, Telenor of Norway, France Telecom of France, and two British companies have shown intention to buy MobiFone shares, said the report.

Vietnam is expected to have 36 million mobile phone subscribers by 2010, up from some 17 million in early September, according to the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunication Group, whose affiliates include MobiFone and VinaPhone.

The country with a population of 83.1 million has set targets of having 32-42 fixed and mobile phones, 10 personal computers, and 8-12 Internet subscribers for every 100 residents by 2010.

The International Telecommunications Union ranks Vietnam the world's second telecommunications growth market rate in recent years, second only to China.

Source: Xinhua