The Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) posted a profit of nearly VND6.45 trillion (US$275.43 million) in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent and 9.4 per cent higher than its goal.

The information was released at a conference held by the group on Monday in Ha Noi to review its operation in 2018 and set plans for 2019.

This is the fifth consecutive year that VNPT has achieved profit growth of more than 20 per cent.

Its total number of phone subscribers was about 34 million, including 31.3 million mobile subscribers.

The group’s total number of broadband Internet subscribers reached 5.2 million, an increase of 11.1 per cent compared to 2017, of which FiberVNN subscribers reached five million, a year-on-year increase of 27 per cent.

In 2018, the group contributed nearly VND4.48 trillion to the State budget, reaching 117.5 per cent of its yearly plan and representing a rise of 18 per cent from the previous year.

The return on equity ratio was 10.2 per cent, exceeding the plan by 9.6 per cent for an increase of 23 per cent compared to 2017.

VNPT has expanded its internet network to Hong Kong through opening points of presence (POP) IP and helping optimise and expand international leasing channels directly to territories to improve service quality. It has also completed IoT negotiations with 159 operators in 89 countries on a total of 454 mobile networks that have exploited international roaming services.

This year, the group provided 60 new value added services, including some that bring new revenue such as Big Data telecom, VNPT Cloud Contact Centre, smart agriculture and its F-secure security service for businesses. — VNS