Why Viettel will not pay attention to the rising boycott against its brand in Myanmar

Speaking about Viettel, one of the major telecommunication brand Vietnamese tend to feel associated and proud of recent years, the Vietnamese regime can also feel relieved about the successes of Viettel since it's operated by the Ministry of Defence, through privatisation talk has been ongoing. The Communist Party of Vietnam has been whitewashing its image to brand itself as a major partner.

But this is changing. The coup d'état in February 1st by the Tatmadaw, or Burmese Armed Forces, put Viettel in jeopardy. Yet despite the deteriorating situation in Myanmar and the fear of losing revenues, the Vietnamese regime has not just silently sided with the Myanmar Generals but also appeared confidently believing, in secret, that, Myanmar would restore to stability so the Vietnamese government's investors to come back and exploit the resources. So, why won't Viettel pay attention to it?

Viettel's quiet rise

The company was founded in 1989 as a construction company as Vietnam just began economic reforms three years ago. It started to involve in the telecommunication market in 1992, getting the name we saw today in 1995 before officially operated in 1997. For the first ten years, it competed with other private and national brands to acquire the lion shares, ultimately emerged as the biggest by the late 2000s. Subsequently, the firm extended its investment by investing in Laos and Cambodia, Vietnam's neighbours and also within Hanoi's sphere of influence. The extension of Viettel to Laos and Cambodia had nothing to mention, however, since Laos and Cambodia aren't really big international players.

Viettel spearheaded forward with the blessing from the Vietnamese regime to encroach into Haiti, the poorest country in the New World in 2011, shortly after the devastating earthquake a year earlier that killed more than 200,000 people. Haiti has few to offer for other investors, like Laos, so the Vietnamese firm could conduct without harm. Throughout this 2010s era, Viettel also quietly purchased markets from Mozambique, East Timor, Tanzania, Cameroon and Burundi to finally establish footholds.

But nothing can be compared to Viettel's biggest fish they captured, and it is in South America.

In 2011, the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications granted Viettel the rights to build its infrastructure in a 20-year lease, became the fourth telecommunication firm working here. The three others are Movistar from Spain, Claro from Mexico (owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim) and Entel from Chile. Unlike Viettel, the three rivalling firms have their advantages for sharing common Hispanic heritage, with the Spanish language being official in both countries. Moreover, they have long gained the edges in the country. By the time Viettel applied for investments, it was thought that Viettel would soon abandon the country because of its inability to compete against the trio. Of course, it is not even easy to compete not just local, Hispanic but even bedfellows Asian companies too, most Asian giants working in Peru are from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China because of historical migration from East Asia.

However, Viettel is good at exposing the other weaknesses, so the Viettel staffs in Peru, after getting license in 2014, immediately put up the works. With technical assistance from several ZTE members (Chinese Peruvians are a large Chinese diaspora in Peru, thus ZTE's advantage), Viettel pushed for actions. It paved a clear roadmap by infiltrating into areas with rare inhabitants, such as the Amazon, first with 3G, then with 4G and potential 5G.

It paid off. A difficult beginning was easily predicted, Viettel suffered a one-year budget deficit but experienced a string of surplus income the following years thanked for its quiet approach to the poorer and less known population within the country of 35 million people. The greater exposure of the people to the company allowed Viettel to enact its fast-track transformation to become a major company. It quickly displaced Entel and is on the edge of overthrowing Claro to become the second-largest telecommunication provider in Peru. Only by that time, Movistar, Claro and Entel decided to get in touch with, but Viettel's power in Peru has shown no decreasing sign.

From what I watched back in 2018 when the World Cup played in Russia, Bitel's role was highly regarded. It was believed that Bitel's involvement in developing wireless connection in rural areas had allowed and facilitated football talents from the rest of Peru, as well as broadcasting matches of the Peruvian national team, or La Blanquirroja (The White and Red), the nickname of Peruvian team. When Peru qualified for 2018 World Cup, Viettel stood as one of the team's sponsors in its short-lived experience after 36 years of absence.

Thanks to the successes in Peru, Viettel quickly achieved a respectable status, and in 2019, it was listed for the first time as one of 500 biggest telecommunication firms in the world, became the first Vietnamese firm to do so. It has been talking to expand its markets elsewhere, such as in Indonesia, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Egypt, Algeria and DR Congo.

Viettel and Myanmar

Viettel came to Myanmar far later than its business with Peru. It started paying attention in 2017 when Myanmar was still on the fast track in reform. And for a military-linked firm like Viettel, nothing is easier than cooperating with the country's armed forces, the Tatmadaw. Brethren in authoritarian camp, as exposed by CNN in 2021, though Vietnamese state media proudly reported this years before.

The opening ceremony of Mytel, a subsidiary of Viettel and owned by Min Aung Hlaing (standing in the middle), the eventual coup maker. Vietnamese counterpart Ngô Xuân Lịch stood in the second of the left near Gen. Min.

And this is the root of the problem.

Viettel knew the dirty business but refused to buckle away because it sensed profits. And unlike Peru, where Viettel doesn't need to hide, in Myanmar, it has clandestine operations in fear of repercussions. It should be known as, as I have written before, the Tatmadaw's leadership has long admired the Vietnamese regime for its effectiveness. So much that they sought advice from the Vietnamese regime, such as economic reforms, and military training. Several Vietnamese officers were dispatched to Myanmar since they first signed the treaty of cooperation in 2014 to later their products commit war crimes and atrocities against minorities like Karen and Kachin Christians near the borderland.

To be honest about this again, very few Burmese ever considered it seriously, especially after the very violent crackdown of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine. But now, the coup has put Viettel's business in turmoil because of its alliance with the Tatmadaw. Personnel working inside Mytel stores have been resigning en masse, some even joined the civil disobedience movement (CDM). Conglomerates backed by the junta are facing a stand-still as they could not function properly because of economic halt.

Yet, Viettel remained confident. Unlike Burmese, Vietnamese people are part of a stricter culture, a culture emboldened by the authoritarian communist regime and a mixture of Chinese Confucian teachings of totalitarian obedience, that's why many Vietnamese aren't enthusiastic when it came to the Burmese revolution, many even criticised the Burmese for destroying Viettel stores in the country. Vietnamese diaspora, while more enthusiastic because of their trauma by the communist conquest, are also no way near to speak for democracy after marching with Nazis, KKK advocates, White nationalists and Confederates to attack America's democracy symbol in Washington that captured international attention.

Even more. The market of Myanmar, while emerging, at least before the coup, counted only no more than 3-5% of the whole revenues generated from Viettel's businesses. Meanwhile, Peru has the highest-grossing income for the military firm, contributing over 45%, since Peru is three times ahead of Vietnam, leave alone a developing nation that isolated itself so long like Myanmar. This can be even worth comparing, for instance, Peru's football star Paolo Guerrero earns over 1,11 million dollars each, while Myanmar's counterpart Aung Thu only earns 50,000 dollars, far below even another Peruvian star Jefferson Farfán, who returned home to play for a local club earning 600,000 dollars. And Aung Thu is widely regarded as the greatest Burmese footballer in the modern contemporary era.

So Viettel will bow down to pressure from the protesters? This is ridiculous at the best.

Conclusion

It's hard to believe if Viettel will ever think about the people of Myanmar, given the firm itself belongs to a totalitarian regime. But that's not all.

The trifecta of double-dealing with cronies, generating funds through compromises, and omnipresent popular adherence of Viettel has helped shaping the firm to become one of the most powerful in the world. Myanmar is, by far, prepared little for the outcome. And even when Viettel may vacate from Myanmar's increasing hostile sentiment, it won't consider it a defeat. It has the home, it has friendlier allies, and so what's going on in Myanmar won't affect them. Hence this is why despite Western brands and maybe some few Asian brands from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia might retreat, Vietnamese brands, alongside Chinese, will stay. Exactly the nature of Viettel being like.