Telecom products attract foreign investors

The implementation of a series of projects in telecommunications production in the first months of 2011 showed that Vietnam’s high-tech sector continued to draw foreign investors.

By the end of March, Wintek Vietnam Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Wintek Corp. was officially granted a licence to build a 250 million USD plant to produce touch screens for iPhone and iPad in Quang Chau economic zone in the northern province of Bac Giang.

The plant was expected to start building in July and begin operation in 2013.

Earlier, Nokia announced its plan to built its first mobile phone factory in Vietnam, in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

The plant, with initial investment of 200 million EUR, was planned for operation in 2012, raising the number of Nokia’s mobile phone plants worldwide to 11.

Taiwan’s Foxconn group also intended to restart its plan to build a mobile phone factory worth 200 million USD in the northern midland province of Vinh Phuc, after a one-year delay due to the impact of the global economic crisis.

Apart from these new projects, current telecom projects in Vietnam have operated effectively.

The Republic of Korea’s Samsung Electronics reported its mobile phone plant in Bac Giang posted an export value of 2 billion USD in 2010 after two years of operation. The figure was expected to increase to 3 billion USD this year.

While foreign investment in telecom products had become busy, it was quiet in telecom services.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, only two foreign investors partnered with local businesses to provide telecom services.

They were the Russian Vimpelcom Group, which joined hands with Global Telecom Corp. to develop the Beeline network, and Hutchinson Telecom Group, which cooperated with Hanoi Telecom to develop the Vietnamobile network.

To improve the situation, the Government had issued a decree providing detailed regulations and guidelines for the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Telecommunication.

The document was expected to create an open and more transparent pathway for foreign investors to join Vietnam’s telecom market in the future. – Tuoitre

Tags: Telecom products, Vietnam Telecom, Vietnam telecom maket