Vientiane (VNA) -ꦉ Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Lao counterpartThongloun Sisoulith on February 4 visited telecommunications company StarTelecom, a joint venture between Lao Asia Telecom and Vietnam’s Viettel Group.

PM Phuc praisedStar Telecom for actively developing its infrastructure system, especially theconstruction and early deployment of a 4G network in Laos. He also highlyappreciated the success of mobile operator Unitel, which is a trademark of StarTelecom, through the very good indicators of turnover and development oftelecommunications infrastructure. He urged Unitelto apply the 4.0 industrial revolution as the basis for future success. Along with that,Star Telecom should further expand its participation in building smart citiesand e-government if required by the Lao government, he said, adding that thecompany should continue to make important contributions to Laos’s developmentof science and technology. He noted thatStar Telecom would be the flagship in the two countries’ science and technologydevelopment cooperation, thereby contributing more and more to be specialfriendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos. PM Sisoulithexpressed his joy and welcomed achievements in the business of Star Telecom forbecoming one of the largest contributors to the budget and contributingpositively to the socio-economic development of Laos. He congratulatedStar Telecom on its new headquarters, one of the most beautiful buildings inthe country, and expressed his hope that the company would continue to achievemore in production and business in the future. The UnitelBuilding (Star Telecom headquarters) is located on the main road in the centreof Vientiane, with 11 floors. Construction started in May 2015 with totalinvestment of about 12 million USD. According to CaoAnh Son, CEO of Star Telecom, in nine years of business, Unitel has become theleading telecom operator in Laos for seven consecutive years with 2.8 millioncustomers, accounting for 52 percent of the market share. It has thelargest network infrastructure with 6,000 2G/3G/4G stations, covering 95percent of the country. Star Telecom hadalso been entrusted by the Lao Government to deploy key e-government systemsfor the country such as coordinating with the Ministry of Posts and Telematicsfor a Lao font system, the Ministry of Education and Sports for an onlinelearning and examination portal and the Ministry of Civil Affairs for a citizenadministration system, “In the future,Unitel is committed to continue to improve its products and services tomaintain the leading position and at the same time, pioneer the implementationof the 4.0 industrial revolution in finance and banking solutions, e-commerce,digital content stores on health, education and entertainment to continuecontributing to country building,” Son said.-VNA