The Military Telecommunications General Company Viettel and its Laotian partner Lao Asia Telecom inaugurated a new mobile phone network called Unitel in Laos on October 16.

Unitel is a joint venture between the two companies in which the Vietnamese partner holds a 49 percent stake and the Laotian partner holds 51 percent.

Viettel has pledged to invest a total of US$83 million in the first stage of the project and has invested $79 million to date.

The Unitel Mobile service is Viettel’s second international telecom network, following the launch of Metfone in Cambodia.

General Director of Unitel Le Huu Hien said the new network has the largest infrastructure of the five mobile service providers in Laos, with nearly 900 base transmission stations, 8,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable, and covering the entire country.

Unitel now has 20,000 subscribers.

Viettel will also provide free Internet to 1,295 schools in Laos at a cost of $3 million.