Bright spot in the friendly and cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Burundi

At the invitation of President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Luong Cuong and his wife, President of the Republic of Burundi Évariste Ndayishimiye and his wife will pay an official visit to Vietnam from April 3 to 6, 2025.

As the first head of state of Burundi to visit Vietnam, President Evariste Ndayishimiye's visit took place at a time when the two countries were celebrating the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations (April 16, 1975 - April 16, 2025), demonstrating the desire to further strengthen friendly and cooperative relations in the fields of politics, economics, trade, culture and society.

Vietnam and Burundi have many similarities in history and culture, having experienced the resistance war against colonialism, and have great potential for economic-trade-investment cooperation. Some projects are considered bright spots in the cooperative relationship between the two countries; a typical example is the telecommunications investment cooperation project of the Military Industry-Telecoms Group (Viettel) in the Burundi market under the brand name Lumitel.

"Telecom Revolution" in Burundi

In 2013, Burundi, a country in East Africa, had only 35% of its population using electricity. Most rural and mountainous areas had no electricity, so telecommunications and the Internet were considered a dream that was difficult to come true. When Viettel decided to deploy and was licensed to cooperate in telecommunications business here in January 2013, the telecommunications revolution in Burundi really began.

Immediately after being granted a business license, Viettel sent 8 personnel who had a lot of experience in foreign markets to Burundi. In the first 2-3 months, they worked with management agencies, studied legal regulations and types of licenses to deploy services, quickly established an organization, recruited employees, and sought partners to deploy infrastructure.

For Lumitel, the initial infrastructure requirements were very high, including 600 broadcasting stations and 3,000 km of fiber optic cable. All equipment was purchased in Vietnam and then transferred. The biggest obstacle was that Burundi only had one backbone cable line, so there were no companies specializing in planting poles and pulling cables. Therefore, Viettel had to bring in 5-6 companies from Vietnam. The work was carried out simultaneously in the capital Gitega and the provinces of Burundi.

Although the area is small and mostly mountainous, the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure in Burundi is very expensive. In addition, local personnel in Burundi have almost no technical knowledge in network deployment, so they have to be retrained by the "hands-on" method. However, with determination, not afraid of hardship, and tireless efforts, when officially operating in March 2014, Lumitel's waves covered 18 provinces and cities and quickly rose to the position of the number 1 network operator in this country.

People in Burundi have very low income, averaging about 240 USD/person/year. Therefore, Lumitel has designed service packages with suitable costs to meet the diverse needs of customers. For example, poor customers in rural areas only need to register for a USSD service package to chat unlimited messages in 1 day for a cost of 0.05 USD (equivalent to 500 VND).

A big problem in Burundi is that most rural and mountainous areas do not have electricity. Therefore, when deploying transmission stations, even though Lumitel brought telecommunication services to every household, people could not use them. So in the early days, Lumitel also brought solar panels, both selling them cheaply and giving them to poor households so that more Burundians could use mobile phones.

May 2015 is considered a milestone for Lumitel to rise to the leading position in Burundi. At that time, Burundi was in turmoil. Many foreign organizations and businesses left, but Lumitel remained to maintain service provision. Thanks to that, Lumitel quickly reached 1 million subscribers in July 2015, becoming the network operator with the highest subscriber growth rate in the markets Viettel has invested in.

Currently, Lumitel is the telecommunications operator with the largest technical network infrastructure, ranked No. 1 in Burundi on all 2G, 3G and 4G LTE technologies with mobile coverage covering 97% of the territory, 3.5 million customers using mobile services, accounting for 67.5% of the market share; internet coverage of 50% of the population with more than 1 million customers using mobile internet connection data services.

2024 is the year with the most breakthrough growth in recent years for Lumitel. The company is the second largest taxpayer in Burundi. In more than 11 years of operation, the amount of tax Lumitel has paid to the state budget is over 286.5 million USD; ensuring jobs and stable income for more than 60,000 direct workers and 1,500 indirect workers.

Ambassador Vu Thanh Huyen and Lumitel (Viettel Burundi) staff visited Nezerwa Orphanage, Burumbuja, during a working trip in October 2024. (Photo: VNA)

Despite difficulties, Lumitel is the only network operator that continues to invest in additional 4G stations, broadcasting 106 new stations, increasing 4G coverage to 26%, helping internet coverage reach more than 50% of the population.

With the effort to expand infrastructure at 75 stations in the white zone - where only Lumitel network covers, Lumitel has brought technology and telecommunications to the most remote and difficult places, expanding access to telecommunications services to an additional 1.6 million Burundian people.

The company is also the only network operator in Burundi to be granted a free 5G frequency license, saving more than 1 million USD, opening up business opportunities and affirming its pioneering position in leading digital technology.

Technology from the heart continues to draw dreams

In the beautiful and hospitable country of Burundi, Lumitel maintains free Internet connection sponsorship for 261 schools, public health centers and 40 video conference points as committed to the Burundi Government; sponsors a clean water well project worth about 1 million USD.

Since March 2024, Lumitel has implemented a monthly charity program by sponsoring tuition fees, school bags, and books for orphanages. In October 2024, the Company coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to Burundi to donate roofs to 30 households severely affected by floods in Burumata village, Gihanga commune, Bubanza province.

In particular, Lumitel cooperates with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Children's Fund to provide an average of 70,000 SIM cards annually under the project for the poor and refugees, ensuring support for the lives of disadvantaged people in society through Lumicash - a form of "electronic wallet" that can be used simply and conveniently even for the elderly and those with little experience in technology.

With just a 2G phone or any type of smartphone, this feature can be applied to meet the most basic needs of people such as: Money transfer, withdrawal, payment for goods, payment for public services such as taxes, fees, electricity and water, businesses use wallets to pay salaries, workers from far away provinces can transfer money to relatives without wasting time traveling...

Ambassador Vu Thanh Huyen and representatives of Lumitel (Viettel Burundi) visited the Nezerwa Orphanage, Burumbuja, during a working trip in October 2024. (Photo: VNA)

In the coming years, Lumitel will stick to its original goal of bringing the best mobile network, the widest coverage and the cheapest price to the people of Burundi, continuing to innovate in information technology to take the lead in the digital transformation process, with plans to launch 5G technology for the first time in Burundi, bringing Burundi into the top 21 African countries, the top 6 first East African countries to own 5G technology, enhancing Burundi's position on the world telecommunications map.

At the same time, Lumitel also proactively and actively cooperates with businesses to join hands in implementing major projects on telecommunications universalization and major social sponsorship activities of the government in accordance with the philosophy of "business associated with social responsibility."

"Viettel's presence is a blessing. You really work and dedicate yourself to the benefit of the Burundian people. Burundi has changed and developed strongly since Viettel invested while many neighboring countries have not," Burundi's Minister of Communications, Information Technology and Multimedia - Ms. Léocadie Ndacayisaba shared when visiting and working at Viettel in November 2024.

Ms. Léocadie Ndacayisaba expected Viettel to create a modern and sustainable digital infrastructure, creating leverage for Burundi's development; at the same time, she committed to supporting Viettel in key projects in Burundi, especially social security and high-tech industry.

Projects such as Viettel's Lumitel in Burundi have been carrying out the mission of bringing the image of Vietnamese businesses and Vietnamese people to the international community, becoming a bridge of friendship between Vietnam and countries around the world./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/diem-sang-trong-quan-he-huu-nghi-hop-tac-giua-viet-nam-va-burundi-post1024420.vnp