Axiata, a leading telecommunication company in Asia, is interested in the plan by Vietnam’s second-largest mobile telecom operator, MobiFone, to go public, an executive with the Kuala Lumpur-based company said Wednesday.

Axiata wants to take part in MobiFone’s privatization and is committed to long-term cooperation with the Vietnamese company, Annis Sheikh Mohamed, head of corporate development, said during a meeting with Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Le Nam Thang in Hanoi.

The event was held after the deputy minister received the Axiata representative and Azra Firzadh Asangany, counselor with the Malaysian Embassy in the Vietnamese capital, according to technology newswire ICTNews.

Axiata also seeks to share its technology with MobiFone and contribute to the growth of the Vietnamese telecom market, Mohamed said.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Thang briefed the Axiata representative on the Vietnamese telecom industry and MobiFone’s privatization plan so that the Malaysian firm can consider cooperating.

The communications ministry is still pooling feedback from relevant bodies on MobiFone’s plan to go public, and is expected to submit the final proposal to the government within this year. The plan is also expected to be approved this year, he added.

ICTNews quoted the deputy minister as saying that the privatization will be done under a transparent mechanism and MobiFone will expand into the regional and global markets.

“The Ministry of Information and Communications is willing to support and answer any questions regarding the plan from international investors,” he said.

Mohamed said Axiata had similar objectives to MobiFone when it went public in 2008.

Five years after the privatization, Axiata has accumulated knowledge and experience about the telecom markets in Asia, which could be useful for the Vietnamese network operator, he said.

Axiata boasts a total of 250 million subscribers across Asia and a network of eight Asian countries, according to its website. The company reported US$5.8 billion in revenue as of the end of 2013 and had a market capitalization of $18.7 billion at the same time.

MobiFone attractive to international investors

MobiFone’s plan to go public was green-lighted by the government in 2006, when the telecom operator was still under the management of the state-run post and telecom giant VNPT, according to The Saigon Times Online.

VNPT can hold at most a 20 percent stake in MobiFone once the company goes public, whereas the largest stake a foreign investor will be allowed to own is 49 percent.

Many international telecom firms have also shown interest in acquiring a stake in the company.

Among them is Norway’s Telenor, one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies, with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Arne Kjetil Lian, Telenor’s senior vice president in Asia, expressed the company’s interest in MobiFone’s IPO during a meeting with the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications on September 24, according to ICTNews.

The Norwegian official said Telenor wanted to purchase MobiFone shares and take part in administrating the company.

Another potential investor is Sweden’s Comviq International, which showed an interest in acquiring shares of MobiFone in late 2007.

The Swedish company has recently returned to Vietnam to meet with officials at the communications ministry to reaffirm their intention of becoming a strategic partner of MobiFone, according to The Saigon Times Online.

MobiFone is Vietnam’s second biggest telecom firm, following military-run Viettel.

VNPT-owned Vinaphone comes in third out of the three operators that dominate the Southeast Asian country’s mobile phone network market.

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