Cambodian mobile operator Beeline has been taken over by market leader Metfone, which is run by Vietnam’s military-run Viettel.

Beeline Cambodia, the country’s fourth largest player with about 800,000 connections, will cease operations on 24 March and all its customers will be moved to Metfone’s network. The merged company will have almost 13 million mobile connections.

Metfone has acquired the licences, base stations and other infrastructure of Beeline. Viettel didn’t announce how much it spent.

Cambodia now has five mobile operators serving a population of 15.5 million.

Metfone has had operations in the country for eight years.

Viettel also has operations in Laos, Timor Leste, Mozambique, Cameroon, Tanzania, Burundi, Haiti and Peru. It recently said it plans to expand into 30 to 35 countries and become one of the world’s top 10 telecoms firms within five years.