HT Mobile searches for creative agency in Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY - Vietnam's smallest telco, HT Mobile, a joint venture between Hanoi Telecommunications and US-based Hutchison, has shortlisted up to five agencies including Grey, DraftFCB, Red Brand Builders and Edge Marketing, in the final round of its search for a creative agency.

The winning agency is expected to help HT Mobile rebrand and reposition its business at the end of the year as it aims to compete with leading telcos Viettel Telecom, MobiFone and Vinaphone.

HT Mobile recently spent US$600 million to change and expand its mobile network in Vietnam, having switched its operations from CDMA to GSM technology at the end of August.

The mobile operator failed to meet its target of one million users in 2007 having signed up less than 200,000 customers on its old network and had applied to the country’s Ministry of Information and Communications to switch to GSM technology.

Vietnam currently counts 48 million mobile phone subscribers, and Viettel leads the market with 19.5 million subscribers and a 41 per cent market share. MobiFone has 13.4 million subscribers followed by Vinaphone’s 12.1 million.

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