Provincial police chief appointed chairman of Vietnam's telecom giant MobiFone

The Ministry of Public Security has appointed Major General Truong Son Lam, director of Ben Tre province's Police Department, as chairman of MobiFone's board of members.

Lam has held the highest position at MobiFone since June 12, replacing Nguyen Hong Hien.

Hien was recently appointed as head of the Department of Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation under the Central Policy and Strategy Committee - an advisory and assistance body of the Party Central Committee.

Before joining MobiFone, Truong Son Lam was the police chief of Ben Tre, a Mekong Delta province in southern Vietnam, from October 2022.

He was born in 1972. Lam's hometown is Thanh Hoa province. He has a bachelor's degree in information technology from the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, a doctorate in law from the People's Security Academy, and a senior degree in political theory.

The new MobiFone chairman used to work at the General Department of Security under the Ministry of Public Security. He was deputy director of the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention.

Wholly state-owned MobiFone, one of Vietnam's leading telecom, IT and digital content enterprises, once belonged to the Ministry of Information and Communications. In late 2018, it was transferred to the State Capital Management Committee (SCMC).

The Ministry of Public Security officially took over the management of MobiFone, Vietnam’s third-largest telecom company, from SCMC in late February this year. The transfer was approved by the government as part of its ongoing administrative streamlining drive.

General Luong Tam Quang, a Politburo member and Minister of Public Security, on April 15 stated that the transfer of MobiFone to the Ministry of Public Security reflects the "strategic vision of the Vietnamese Party and State in developing the national security industry and digital transformation".

"The transfer affirms the special attention of the Party and the State to reshape the corporation for the development of the security industry, science-technology, and digital transformation of the public security sector," Quang said at a working session with MobiFone

"The move is in line with the Politburo's Resolution 57 on scientific and technological breakthroughs, innovation and national digital transformation," he added.

Founded in 1993, MobiFone was Vietnam’s first telecom company. According to Vietnam’s ICT White Book 2023, the giant held a 17.9% share of the domestic telecom market, behind Viettel (56.3%) and VNPT (21%), both of which are also state-owned.

In 2024, MobiFone reported a pre-tax profit of VND2,048 billion ($80.2 million), exceeding its target by 20.6%. Some of its segments posted strong growth from 2023, such as MobiFone Meet (1,050%), Cloud (312%), mobiAgri (49%), and MobiFone Invoice (58%).

The company currently has 21 member units with a total of 4,000 employees. As of end-2023, it had total assets of VND31,630 billion ($1.24 billion) and owners’ equity of VND23,140 billion ($906.3 million).

MobiFone on March 27 officially commercialized its 5G services, becoming the third network operator in the country to do so.