Cao Duy Hai has been dismissed from his position as general director of MobiFone. (Photo: danviet.vn)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - MobiFone, one ofVietnam’s three largest mobile network operators, has reported a year-on-yeardecline of 42 percent in post-tax profit in the second quarter of this year,falling to 947 billion VND (41 million USD).

The company earned 8.42 trillion VND in revenue inthe second quarter, down 17 percent compared to last year.

In the first six months of this year, MobiFone’srevenue also decreased by 8 percent to 17.2 trillion VND. The high cost ofgoods and expenses led to a post-tax profit of only 1.95 trillion VND, down 26percent year-on-year.

As of June 30, cash and under-three-month depositsof MobiFone’s soared to nearly 10.6 trillion VND compared to 1.8 trillion VNDat the beginning of the year, most of which was from shareholders of multimediacompany Audio Visual Global (AVG).

At that point in time, MobiFone still owned 95 percentof AVG, equivalent to 8.9 trillion VND. But in March, the two sides decided tocancel the share transfer agreement.

According to Pham Nhat Vu, an AVG representative,there were a number of reasons for the contract to be cancelled. Since itsacquisition, MobiFone had failed to develop the AVG brand as planned and missedopportunities to promote the firm’s potential.

Vu said that since the contract was signed,MobiFone had paid 95 percent of the contract value, and MobiFone had failed tofulfil its obligations to pay the remaining 5 percent despite repeated requestsby AVG.

In early 2016, MobiFone formally announced theacquisition of 95 percent of AVG’s shares to expand its television network, oneof the company’s four main business areas. The details of the deal, however,were not disclosed.

At the beginning of August 2016, the Governmentasked the Government Inspectorate (GI) to investigate the acquisition. The GIfound serious violations in the acquisition.

In an announcement issued on March 14, 2018, theGI said the case was extremely serious, as MobiFone, the Ministry ofInformation and Communications (MIC) and related agencies had committedmultiple wrongdoings during the acquisition process.

🍌 The GI’s inspection found that MobiFone had brokena number of regulations during the acquisition, especially in the assessment ofAVG’s financial situation, allegedly leading to State budget losses of 7trillion VND, and affecting MobiFone’s finance in the following years,resulting in difficulties in the equitisation of the company.

Regarding investments in other units, MobiFone hadsold 33.4 million shares in SeaBank worth 333 billion VND, but has failed tooffload 5.55 million shares in Tien Phong Bank worth 48.6 billion VND.

MobiFone’s other payables increased sharply to 8.5trillion VND. In terms of equity, the company has a charter capital of 15trillion VND and a development investment fund worth 3.58 trillion VND.

Cao Duy Hai has been dismissed from his position as GeneralDirector of MobiFone this week. Former Deputy General Director of MobiFoneNguyen Dang Nguyen took over the role of General Director MobiFone on August 22,replacing Hai.

The MIC announced the decision to dismiss Hai dueto violations related to the AVG deal.

Hai was born in 1961, graduated from the MilitaryTechnical Academy and studied in Germany.

He then worked as director of MobiFone Centre 1and deputy general director of MobiFone before being appointed as director ofthe Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VinaPhone) in July 2014,replacing Lam Hoang Vinh.

Less than a year later, the MIC appointed Hai asgeneral director of MobiFone, replacing Le Nam Tra. He then also held theposition of Chairman of MobiFone.

On August 21, 2017, Hai handed over thechairmanship of MobiFone to Nguyen Manh Thang and continued to keep theposition as MobiFone’s general director.

🐼 Nguyen has served as Deputy General Director atMobiFone for many years, in charge of the technology section.-VNS/VNA