Vietnamese mobile operator MobiFone has been valued at US$2 billion, according to Credit Suisse, the investment bank handling the operator’s planned IPO later this year. According to a VietNamNet Bridge report, the valuation is considered some US$1 billion lower than its valuation prior to the onset of the world’s economic crisis last year. However, MobiFone’s general director Le Ngoc Minh said that at the US$2 billion valuation, investment in the firm would still yield a profit of around 17 percent a year. “At the current banking interest rates of less than 8 percent a year, investment in MobiFone is a considerable opportunity,” he said.

Minh added that the firm still plans to complete its IPO this year despite stock markets continuing to slide. MobiFone reportedly had 31 million subscribers by the end of last year, with the number of new subscribers in 2008 equivalent to the total number of the past 14 years. Profit for the year stood at VND5.8 trillion (US$342 million) on revenues of VND17.5 trillion (US$1 billion).