Viettel Named Top Winner Worldwide at the 2026 International Business Awards

The Vietnamese telecommunications and technology group takes 30 Stevie Awards, including 19 Gold - the most of any entrant in a field drawn from 78 nations and territories.

HANOI, Vietnam, Aug. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Viettel Group has been named the top winner of the 23rd Annual International Business Awards® (IBA), taking 30 Stevie® Awards: 19 Gold, eight Silver and three Bronze. It is the highest total of any organization in this year's program, and Viettel's 19 Gold Stevies are nearly double the next-highest tally.

The result lifts Viettel from second place worldwide in 2025, when it won 25 awards. Its Gold count has more than doubled year on year, from eight to 19. The group has now won more than 150 IBA awards since it first entered in 2016 - the strongest record of any Vietnamese company in the program's history.

Part of the Stevie Awards family, the IBA is the world's only international, all-encompassing business awards program. This year's edition drew more than 3,800 nominations from organizations in 78 nations and territories, among them IBM and Cisco, evaluated by more than 210 business professionals serving as judges on 11 specialized committees.

International markets deliver two-thirds of the haul

Most of the 30 awards came from Viettel's overseas operations, a sign that its operating and innovation standards travel across markets. Bitel (Viettel Peru) and Metfone (Viettel Cambodia) led the group with six awards each.

Bitel was recognized in categories including Telecommunications - Large, Most Innovative Company of the Year and Best Mobile App for Social Good. Metfone won Gold for Viral Marketing Campaign of the Year and Most Innovative TikTok Channel - telecom marketing turned popular culture.

Lumitel (Viettel Burundi) took Gold as a medium-size telecommunications company, while Halotel (Viettel Tanzania) and Telemor (Viettel Timor-Leste) also featured among the winners. Viettel's corporate social responsibility programs in Africa earned three Silver Stevies.

AI-based products carry the domestic showing

In Vietnam, the awards went largely to AI-driven platforms and products: Viettel Post's smart logistics robot complex and AI-powered driver-monitoring camera; Viettel Solutions' eDoc electronic document management platform and the Viettel ITS intelligent transport system; and ISAAP, an information security assessment and audit platform built by the group's information technology center. Viettel Post also won Management Team of the Year and Transportation - Large.

The results reflect Viettel's strategy of shifting from telecom operator to technology company, with its AI, automation and cybersecurity products well regarded in international markets.