Vietnamese telcos to make and export telecom devices Viettel and VNPT, two of the three biggest network operators, are preparing to export telecom devices in large quantities.   In 2016, VNPT launched 90,000 kilometers of optical fibers into the market and 2.4 million products, including optical terminal devices, MyTV box, DVB-T2 set top box, Smartbox, smartphone, and wifi Access Points, worth VND9 trillion in total. Xa Hoi Thong Tin, a website on information technology, reported that in 2016, VNPT introduced its industrial products to 30 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and America. At the end of 2016, VNPT began exporting its products to Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia, earning $4 million. The telco hopes its products can be exported to at least 10 countries in the next five years. To satisfy the demand in the domestic and foreign markets, in 2016, VNPT built another factory in the Hoa Lac High-tech Park with modern production lines and equipment, raising the total capacity to 1 million products a month. It now also runs a factory at No 124 Hoang Quoc Viet street in Hanoi. Just within months, Viettel has installed 10,000 BTS, and the reason behind the rapid implementation of the plan is that Viettel can make most of the 4g equipment. Most recently, on February 18, 2017, VNPT kicked off construction of a VND287 billion factory that makes glass fiber for optical communication, which covers an area of 5,000 square meters. At a recent meeting with VNPT, Minister of Information and Communication Truong Minh Tuan urged telcos to ‘go to the open sea’, emphasizing that only by doing this will Vietnam become an IT power in the region and the world. The services most promising in the international market include data and broadband services, which can both satisfy international bandwidth demand and bring high revenue to VNPT. Viettel, the military telco, is also moving ahead with its plan to boost production and export of telecom devices. According to Dau Tu, of the four network operators which deploy 4G technology in Vietnam, Viettel is the one that goes the fastest. Just within months, Viettel has installed 10,000 BTS, and the reason behind the rapid implementation of the plan is that Viettel can make most of the 4g equipment. A senior executive of Viettel said the group plans to export 4G equipment to Laos and East Timor in early 2017. It is now working on 4G core network and the transmission equipment Site Router, planning to replace imports with products made by the company from 2018. Hoang Son, deputy CEO of Viettel, said that Viettel had jumped into the field of making telecom network equipment. There are only five suppliers in the world. Ha Mai, VNN