Vietnamese military-run operator Viettel has reportedly expressed an interest in becoming the international partner for the Philippines' third telco.
The operator has indicated its interest to the Philippines' Department of Information and Communications Technology, and is reportedly in talks with local telecoms companies for a joint bid, ABS-CBN Newssaid.
The Philippines government is currently courting foreign operators interested in taking the role of a third telco player to disrupt the Globe-PLDT duopoly, and president Rodrigo Duterte plans to fast-track the entry of the new operator.
Duterte has previously approached the Chinese government with the opportunity for one of the market's state-owned operators to partner with a local company for the deployment. But no agreement has been reached.
The government currently aims to complete the bidding process for selecting the new telco player on May 24.
Viettel meanwhile has been expanding internationally, having formed a consortium with local ICT companies to acquire Myanmar's fourth nationwide telecoms license, and started exploring expansions into Indonesia and Nigeria.
The operator now has operations across 10 overseas markets – Laos, Cambodia, Haiti, Mozambique, East Timor, Cameroon, Peru, Burundi, Tanzania and Myanmar.