Movitel Store Maputo

Movitel is a joint venture between Vietnamese state telecom group Viettel and Mozambican investment firm SPI (Sociedade de Participações e Investimentos), formed after winning Mozambique's third mobile-license tender in 2010. The company launched commercial GSM service in 2012, rolling out 2G and later 3G coverage into rural districts that Mozambique's two established operators, mCel and Vodacom, had left largely unserved — a strategy credited with sharply expanding mobile access outside the capital. Movitel is headquartered on Avenida Guerra Popular in Maputo and operates a network of branded retail outlets, including locations in the city's Baixa (downtown) commercial district, selling SIM cards, handsets and airtime alongside mobile-money and data services. As one of Mozambique's three national carriers, Movitel competes directly on price and rural coverage, a positioning that shaped the low-cost handset and prepaid-airtime retail model its storefronts are built around.