Bharti Airtel shortlisted for Myanmar telecom licences
12 Apr 2013
A consortium led by Bharti Airtel and other 11 applicants have been shortlisted by Myanmar government to bid for two nationwide telecom licences.
Apart from Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, Japan's KDDI Corp, Africa's MTN, Singapore Telecommunications, Norway's Telenor SA and Digicel are the other telecom companies shortlisted for the licences.
"The Telecommunications Operator Tender Evaluation and Selection Committee has announced that twelve (12) applicants have been pre-qualified to submit applications for two nationwide telecommunications licences in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The pre-qualified applicants will be required to submit their applications to the committee by June 3, 2013,'' Myanmar's ministry of ommunications, posts and telegraph (MCPT) said.
The names of the winners would be announced by 27 June it added.
China Mobile has teamed up with Vodafone, while France Telecom-Orange is working with Marubeni, and Africa's MTN with M1 Telecom and Amara Communications. SingTel has joined with Myanmar Telephone Co Ltd and KBZ, while KDDI has teamed up with Japan's Sumitomo Corp and Myanmar Information and Communication Technology Development Corp.
Other pre-qualifiers are Axiata Group, Millicom International Cellular SA, Qatar Telecom and Viettel Group.
Securing a licence in Myanmar will help the Indian telecom major expand presence in the sub-continent.
SingTel, which holds over 31 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel, has teamed up with Myanmar's business conglomerate KBZ and Myanmar Telephone Company.