Viettel Global keeps provisions in its half-year accounts that almost fully cover about 9.05 trillion dong of receivables and loans owed by Viettel Cameroon, the operator of the Nexttel brand, equivalent to nearly 202 billion FCFA at the conversion rate applied at the end of September.
The exposure includes 4.675 trillion dong of trade receivables, equivalent to about 104 billion FCFA, provisioned at 99.9%. It also includes 4.375 trillion dong of loans, or nearly 98 billion FCFA, fully provisioned.
The accounting entry reflects a high degree of uncertainty over recovery, but it does not erase the sums owed by the Cameroonian subsidiary. Most of the provisions already existed at the end of 2025, so the 202 billion FCFA do not constitute a new loss recorded in the first half of 2026.
The Vietnamese group, which holds 70% of Viettel Cameroon, says it no longer has the financial information needed to consolidate the subsidiary since 1 November 2018. It has also provisioned the full carrying value of its stake in Nexttel and stopped recognising certain interest and penalties linked to unpaid amounts.
The accounts separately mention guarantees covering about 9.32 billion FCFA of loans granted by BICEC, Société Générale Cameroun and Ecobank. Viettel Global also records an obligation of about 321 billion dong, close to 7.2 billion FCFA, linked to these guarantees, but the two amounts may overlap and should not be added together automatically.
The dispute between Viettel Global and its Cameroonian partner Baba Ahmadou Danpullo has lasted several years. The provisions indicate neither a sale of the Vietnamese stake nor an announced cessation of Nexttel's activities, but they reduce the net value of the receivables concerned in the group's accounts to almost zero.
The published FCFA equivalents are based on the end-September exchange rate, whereas the accounts run to 30 June 2026. They are meant to give an order of magnitude and do not necessarily correspond to the amounts that would be recovered or settled at another date.