Myanmar awards mobile network licences

Myanmar, the world's last unexploited cellular phone market, has awarded licences to two international mobile network operators in a sign of opening up of the country's underdeveloped economy by the civilian government.

Norway's Telenor Mobile Communications and Qatar's Ooredoo, formerly known as Qatar Telecom, have been given the licences to operate mobile networks for a period of 15 years, a government committee in charge of the bidding process said yesterday.

Two operators, France Telecom and Japan's Marubeni Communications have been selected to serve as back-up operators incase the awardees failed to meet the ''post-selection requirements,'' the government statement said.

The companies have not disclosed the value of their bids, but it is believed that building an extensive mobile network across the country would cost more than $3 billion.

Eleven global mobile network operators were shortlisted during the bidding process which included names like Singapore's SingTel, India's Bharti Airtel and Jamaica's Digicel Group involving Myanmar's billionaires Serge Pun in partnership with George Soros.

The country's lower house of parliament had voted Wednesday to postpone the grant of licences until a new telecommunications law was passed by the government.

However, ignoring the resolution, the Myanmar government yesterday decided to award the concessions.

According to some estimates, mobile phone penetration in Myanmar, which has a population of around 55 million, is less than 10 per cent. Presently, mobile phone handsets and services are accessible only to the rich in Myanmar.

Decades of military rule had deliberately kept mobile phone in short supply in the country. Since last year there has seen a major move to liberalise the cellular phone market, as part of the country's economic reform programme under the civilian rule.

Despite Myanmar's ethnic problems and conflicts in several regions, the call for expression of interests to build and operate telecom services has seen overwhelming response from about 90 international players.

The two winners will have to launch their services in about a year and the concession warrants the operators to provide voice services across 75 per cent of the country within five years and data services across half of it.

Expressing his delight over winning the licence, Telenor Group's executive vice president and head of Telenor Asia Sigve Brekke said,  ''We are looking forward to working with the government and people of Myanmar in developing the country's telecommunication industry, a sector that will play a key role in Myanmar's socioeconomic development.''

Telenor will build a state-of-the-art mobile network using HSPA and LTE-ready technologies for Myanmar to match the sophistication of leading networks around the world today, and plans to achieve nationwide coverage in Myanmar within five years, the company said.

Doha-based Ooredoo has significant telecommunication assets in the ASEAN region including Indonesia, Singapore, Laos, Pakistan and Philippines.

Ooredoo chairman Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani said: ''We're very excited about winning a licence in Myanmar and we look forward to working in partnership with the government of Myanmar to develop a world class next generation network.''

''Ooredoo will bring all of its experience of developing and delivering networks in the ASEAN region to Myanmar. Myanmar will undoubtedly become a key market for Ooredoo as we build out our network and deliver easy-to-use, customer friendly and life-enhancing services to the people of Myanmar,'' he further stated.