Lumitel – a brand of the military-run telecommunication group Viettel in Burundi – has become the first 4G LTE service provider in the African country.

An office of Viettel's Lumitel in Burundi (Photo: VNA)

Viettel said Lumitel has offered the 4G service at 100 Mbps in Burundi’s major provinces of Bujumbura, Gitega, Ngozi, Muyinga, Makamba and Rumonge.

Entering the local market in April 2015, Lumitel had aquired 1 million clients in only four months and is currently the biggest telecommunication service provider there, with its network covering 90 percent of Burundi and 1.3 million users.

Viettel executives said although the group has not officially begun supplying the 4G service in Viet Nam, it has taken the lead in introducing this service in some foreign markets such as Laos and Cambodia in 2015.

The firm plans to expand its 4G network to Timor-Leste, Peru and Haiti this year, they added.

Viettel is now present in 10 countries in Asia, Africa and America with 85 million clients, earning 1.4 billion USD in revenue in 2015. In Tanzania, its brand Halotel also attracted 1 million users in only three months of operation.

(Source: VNA)