MobiFone reduces 2023 profit target

MobiFone, Vietnam's major mobile operator, has reduced its 2023 business targets to lower than last year's actual figures, with after-tax profit at VND2,170 billion ($92.55 million), down 23%.

MobiFone sets a revenue target of VND28,754 billion ($1.23 billion), up 1.5% compared with 2022's actual tally, according to the plan for the parent company approved by the Committee for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC).

The mobile operator also plans to invest no more than VND6,300 billion ($268.7 million), pay VND2,100 billion ($89.56 million) to the state budget and have no overdue debt, with a debt solvency ratio greater than 1.

Revenue, profit, ratio of after-tax profit out of equity, and payment to the state budget of the parent company have not taken into account objective factors arising under current state regulations like the policy of band auction and payment of public telecommunications fees.

Previously, at a new-year conference, MobiFone said that the parent company's pre-tax profit is expected to reach VND2,713 billion ($115.6 million) in 2022, hitting 63% of the plan while decreasing more than VND2,000 billion ($85.2 million) compared to 2021.

The parent company's revenue only reached VND28,329 billion ($1.21 billion), or 90% of the plan.

According to a company representative, in the face of the fact that the mobile telecommunications market (voice/sms) is saturated, revenue tends to decrease, with the problem with MobiFone and other network operators in the market being to find and promote other sources of revenue to compensate.

In 2023, MobiFone said it would implement a strategy to promote business in new fields like digital finance, digital health, and digital education which requires a lot of resources in terms of systems and people in the early stages of deployment.

MobiFone leaders said that it is expected that by 2025, the corporation will be among the leaders in digital infrastructure development, master core technology, attract more new customers, and create more new revenue sources, along with achieving strong growth in digital service revenue.

Vietnam currently has five mobile operators, namely MobiFone, Viettel, Vinaphone, Vietnamobile and Gmobile.