HALOTEL TZ’S $800M INVESTMENT WINS INTERNATIONAL PRAISE

Dar es Salaam. Organizers of the International Business Awards (Stevie Awards 2017) have named Viettel Tanzania PLC (Trading as Halotel Tanzania) as the “Fastest Growing Enterprise in the Middle East and Africa”, thanks to its $800 million (about Sh1.7 trillion) investment.

Halotel said in a statement yesterday that the company was named as so during an event that was held in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday this week. Halotel has operated in Tanzania for two years now during which period, it has registered a number of achievements.

Launched in October 2015, Halotel managed to register about one million subscribers in a period of about three months.

“The figure reached two million within nine months of our operations….This is the fastest customer growth rate among all markets – from Vietnam, the Middle East and up to the entire Sahara and East Africa - where Viettel Group has invested,” the Halotel Tanzania deputy managing director, Mr Nguyen Van Son, said yesterday.

In two years, Halotel now has over 3.5 million customers, ranking the fourth among eight telecoms operators in Tanzania, leapfrogging some of the operators that have existed for a much longer period.

The company boasts itself for building one of the largest telecommunications infrastructure in Tanzania in just nine months, helping it to cover 90 per cent of the country’s population. Michelle Galler, the representative of the Stevie Awards 2017, said: “Since its first appearance, Viettel has always been a company with different products and campaigns. Viettel’s subsidiaries in the African market are thriving. “

The International Business Awards (Stevie Awards) is one of the world’s leading annual awards to honor the achievements and positive contributions of businesses and individuals worldwide to the benefits of the community, including IT and telecommunications. 

To be honored, candidates undergo a scrutiny of 200 judges who are mostly chief executive officers and world-renowned entrepreneurs. The name “Stevie” comes from a Greek word for ‘Crowned”.

The Citizen