Hanoi Times – Altimo is Russia’s leading telecom group with US$30 billion in assets and a global reputation; it is now preparing to enter the Vietnamese market and Dmitry Vozianov, Vice President of Altimo, discussed their business interests and plans.

Is it true that Altimo plans to invest in a Vietnamese telecom company?

That’s correct. We want to invest in o­ne of the three major names, VinaPhone, MobiFone or Viettel.

Our investment will be not o­nly be economically beneficial to both but will allow us to help our chosen partner with management capability, experience and technical assistance. We believe that whomever we choose to support will become the telecom leader in this country.

We have met with officials of all three companies. They are now in the in the pre-equitisation assessment period so we have to wait. It is an advantage to us that many Vietnamese speak Russian.

Why has Altimo waited until now to enter the Vietnamese market while already investing in Cambodia, a much smaller and less-developed country?

We came to Vietnam o­ne and a half years ago with the intention of investing in local telecom companies. Meanwhile, we were in Cambodia just nine months ago.

It has been easier for us to get through the red-tape in Cambodia because our partners there are private firms where as in Vietnam, our partners are State-owned enterprises. However, strategically, we still rank Vietnam as our number o­ne priority.

Many other major international telecom groups plan to invest in Vietnam as well, are you concerned about the competition?

We are aware of the competitive interests of other companies and understand the challenges. o­nly time will tell who will succeed but we are confident with our services, products, and most of all, for a long time we have worked closely with the Vietnamese people who have studied, lived and worked in Russia; we feel this gives us an edge.

We also have financial confidence and availability; $30 billion in assets is not something many other companies can boast. We are also a private firm allowing us to make quick decisions while other companies may not have the procedural agility we have.