Bitel: Providing Peruvians with More High Quality Data

Release Date：2018-03-27 Reporter: Liu Yang Click：

On October 15, 2014, Bitel, a branch of the Viettel group, officially launched its telecom services in Peru and became the first mobile operator using a 3G-only network in Peru, with mobile Internet covering 80% of the nation. Peru is the first overseas market of Viettel that has a considerably higher GDP than Vietnam. Hence, the service launching of Bitel marked a new development milestone in the globalization of Viettel. In late 2016, Bitel launched its 4G LTE network and now it is expanding its 4G footprint. Huynh Minh The, CTO of Bitel, and Nguyen Chi Tuan, Director of Business Dept., talked about how the new entrant has grown into a popular mobile brand, having a considerable impact on the market.

What are the differences between the Peruvian and Vietnamese telecom markets? How would you describe the process of adapting to the new environment?

There are many differences including geography, climate, culture, competitors, and language. But we are an international company, and have to adapt to the new environment step-by-step. That is not easy at the beginning, but we know that when we want to, we can do it. When we have the goal before us, we will find the solution. We want to change the market, bring the best services to Peruvians, and give them the opportunity to use data on mobile phones and many other things that people hadn’t imagined before we came.

As a new entrant, Bitel has recorded high growth rates. What achievements would you like to highlight from the past several years?

Actually, one year after Bitel launched its telecom services, many Peruvians still did not know about Bitel. But three years later, we have 13% market share and 99% of the people know us and our products. In the minds of most people, Bitel is the best telecom company, which provides them with more high quality data. It’s not the market share but the belief of the Peruvian people that is our greatest achievement in the past three years. We will continue to try our best to maintain this belief.

What is Viettel's business strategy to compete in Peru?

To be different. That's our strategy. We want to be different in products, channels, and communication. Of course, everything is based on our customers. Customers are central to what we do—how to make them happy, bring them not only voice/SMS and data but also extra value to make their life more comfortable.

Apart from a good business strategy, what do you think are the other success factors?

To be successful, a good business strategy is not enough. We need also other factors, such as a good network, a good core system, and a good billing system, but I think the most important factor is people. We have a good strategy to recruit people, keep them with us, and promote their ability.

What's your outlook for the Peruvian telecom market?

As Peru's telecom market is a dynamic sector we will focus on the increasing satisfaction of our customers by providing trendy and innovative services that differ from our competitors'. Peruvian people are increasing the average data usage and require more quality in service and we will focus on this. We consider Peru a big opportunity to provide our mobile services to all, even in the farthest areas nationwide. So with this thinking we can deploy our strategy according to market needs and customer requirements. According to this, from this year we will schedule to deploy some special plans for niche markets targeting tourists, kids, taxi drivers, and enterprises.