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Viettel Group has been ranked as the world’s strongest telecom brand in Brand Finance’s Telecoms 150 for 2026, placing ahead of major global names including SpaceX’s Starlink. Viettel’s Brand Strength Index (BSI) reached 89.9/100, earning an AAA+ rating—the highest level in Brand Finance’s framework. The report cites strengths including brand reputation, reliability, customer affinity, and willingness to recommend.
Starlink’s brand value rose to $5.2 billion, supported by rapid subscriber growth, with more than 9 million subscribers worldwide by 2025. In absolute brand value, Deutsche Telekom remains the world’s most valuable telecom brand, with brand value increasing by more than 141% since 2020 to $96.2 billion in 2026. Deutsche Telekom ranks 11th among the global 500 most valuable brands and is the only European brand in the top 20.
Deutsche Telekom serves over 261 million mobile customers, more than 25 million fixed-line connections, and over 22 million broadband subscriptions across more than 50 countries, offering telecom, broadband, and IPTV services to individuals and ICT solutions for businesses.
In telecom infrastructure, Huawei continues to lead with a brand value of around $35.1 billion. Cisco is listed as second, while Qualcomm ranks third among infrastructure brands.
Brand Finance attributes Viettel’s ascent to sustained improvements in service quality and nationwide 5G deployment. i-Speed data from the Vietnam Internet Center (VN NIC, Ministry of Science and Technology) shows Viettel’s 5G speed in February 2026 at about 575 Mbps, the fastest in Vietnam. The report notes that on a stable network, a 10GB 4K movie download can take 2–3 minutes, while a 1GB file can download in 10–20 seconds.
Viettel is also described as playing a key role in building Vietnam’s national internet backbone. The company installed 23,500 5G base stations in 2025 and operated over 30,000 by early 2026, covering about 90% of outdoor areas and 70% of indoor spaces nationwide.
The expansion of 5G infrastructure has contributed to improvements in Vietnam’s fixed broadband speeds. Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index for January 2026 shows fixed broadband speeds around 284.99 Mbps, ranking Vietnam 10th globally.
General Ta Duc Thang, Chairman and CEO of Viettel Group, said the company is mobilizing all resources to rapidly expand nationwide 5G, adding that the technology platform is critical to serving government, enterprises, and citizens in Vietnam’s digital transformation.
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