Yangon event to showcase unique market opportunity as Myanmar looks to achieve 80% telecoms penetration within three years.
The Allworld Exhibitions Alliance, whose Asian event experience includes CommunicAsia show in Singapore, is to stage the first ever major telecoms event in Myanmar providing a showcase for one the world’s largest undeveloped markets to play host to the international telecoms industry.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has a population of more than 60 million people...
RANGOON — Two years ago, Freddy Lynn was spending most of his time at a public access center in downtown Myitkyina in Kachin State. There he was introduced to a world that he did not learn in his university or hear about in his community that had been slowed down by more than six decades of armed conflict.
It was a discovery often interrupted by frequent power outages and news of violent clashes between ethnic groups and the military across Burma. Yet Freddy Lynn knew he should keep at it,...
RANGOON — Five years ago, Nay Phone Latt’s daily routine consisted of killing time by reading, doing yoga, and writing letters, short stories, and poems in his cell. But on a recent overcast morning in Rangoon, the blogger hardly had time to answer a phone call as he rushed about, before taking a bus to Burma’s capital Naypyidaw in order to help change the law that sent him to prison.
“I only have 20 minutes,” he said with an apologetic smile to a visitor at his office, located in...
Myanmar's two state-backed telecommunications operators are seeking investors to put in more than $1 billion as they prepare to compete with foreign newcomers, Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo .
Telenor and Ooredoo won the bidding for two new licences in June to provide telecoms services in the country but are still waiting for final approval, expected this month, so they can start building their networks.
Meanwhile two state-backed firms - Yatanarpon Teleport (YTP) and Myanmar Post...
Myanmar's Union Parliament on Tuesday approved a bill to promote the country's telecommunication sector, according to parliament sources.
The telecommunications law calls for the development of the country with telecommunications technology and more participation by private sectors in developing the telecommunications sector.
In the approved telecommunications bill, foreign telecom companies are allowed to operate in the country with license duration periods from five years in minimum to...
Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor has clarified its investment plans for new market Myanmar, Reuters reports, with CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas indicating that the total CAPEX figure is likely to be under USD2 billion. He told the news agency: ‘It is going to be less than what we invested in total in Pakistan. Some [analysts] have used Pakistan as a benchmark and implied that it could be as much as what we invested in Pakistan, but it will not be [that high]’.
Telenor, which was awarded one of...
Many in Myanmar will be getting affordable mobile services as soon as Ooredoo, Telenor and the local conglomerates begin to build up the country’s infrastructure, but the Internet may remain unattainable for most of the 60 million citizens, as the government has not let go of its tight grasp, and connection is still slow and spotty.
There are three Internet providers in Myanmar: Red Link Communications, Sky Net MPS and Yatanarpon Teleport. Red Link is owned by the sons of the former...
Telenor ASA (TEL) maintained its cost saving and cash-flow targets for 2015 as the Nordic region’s largest phone operator expands its emerging market operations to reduce its reliance on its home market.
Telenor, based in Fornebu near Oslo, maintained its goal of 5 billion kroner ($847 million) in cost savings and operating cash flow of 28 billion kroner to 30 billion kroner in 2015, it said in presentation slides published ahead of its capital markets day today.
“Continued growth...
RANGOON — At a street corner in Rangoon’s Kamayut Township, a young man does what would have been odd in his country just three or four years ago—he lowers his head, fixes his eyes on his smartphone, swipes the screen and smiles.
He is probably in his 20s, dressed casually in a black striped shirt and dark jeans, which makes him stand out in the crowd of people wearing traditional longyis. Still, with the phone in hand, he is not uncommon among the Burmese of his generation, especially...
RANGOON — Even with the slow-motion connections, it’s still possible to get addicted to the Internet in Burma. And those who like to get their fix more quickly usually turn to a mobile phone, which in this country inexplicably allows faster online access compared to other devices.
But first, of course, one must have a smart phone. And even before that, a SIM card, or a subscriber identity module card.
That first step stops many local Internet addicts from taking the smart phone...
The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology is seeking partner companies to bid on tenders for building of 400 telecommunication stations across the country.
As part of the government's business expansion plan, tenders are invited from local and international companies for building radio stations, site requirement and survey, technical buildings, mobile cell towers, power systems, supply and installation of air conditioners in these stations, installation of advanced...
Myanmar, Indian businesses may need to stay sharp, perhaps more than play sharp.
The World Economic Forum meeting this past June in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw may have been prophetic about its concern over what some in media described as “greedy land grabbing and displacement, especially in ethnic areas with tentative and fragile peace processes”.
This thought, attributed to David Mathieson, a senior Myanmar researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch, appears realistic...
It’s a soggy afternoon in Yangon , the commercial capital of Myanmar , and a group of young filmmakers are sheltering under umbrellas on set. The director runs through lines with the lead actor – a spotty teenager with a shy smile. Nearby, his on-screen love interest shelters in the back of a car listening to pop songs on her phone.
There’s nothing remotely risqué – even by conservative local standards – about the film they are making, a soap opera-style drama about a man...
One of the two winners of mobile network development licences in Burma, Telenor, has named three other foreign firms it will involve in its plans.
“Telenor confirmed that the company has signed memorandums of understanding with China’s equipment maker Huawei, Ericsson of Sweden and India’s Wipro,” the industry news website Telecom Lead said.
“Formal agreements with these companies will be finalized when Telenor receives its operating licence. The [Burma] government has said that...
Norway’s Telenor Group said that they would recruit approximately 3000 Myanmar nationals to provide local communication services. Telenor won the recent Myanmar telecommunication tender.
Telenor Group will recruit employees in three phases. In the first phase 25 management level employees who are proficient in business development and strategic planning will be recruited. They will execute administrative duties to launch Telenor Myanmar. The application period for these employment...
RANGOON — For the first time since the government announced the international winners of a telecommunications license tender late last month, the two successful bidders have disclosed their planned calling rates, according to a press release by Burma’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
The joint statement by Norway’s Telenor and Qatar’s Ooredoo said both international telecoms giants will offer highly competitive rates that are significantly lower than what is...
JAKARTA — Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Indonesia’s biggest telecommunication company, has won a tender to manage Burma’s international networks.
“The trust given by the Myanmar government is the result of our team’s hard work on the ground in Myanmar. This will be an opportunity to show Telkom can be aligned with other big international operators,” Arief Yahya, president director of Indonesia’s state-controlled Telkom, said in a statement on Friday.
Telkom has been tasked with...
The two operators that won telecom licences in Myanmar have unveiled their pricing plans and deployment goals for the near-term future.
Norwegian operator Telenor has pledged that after 5 years, its HSPA+ network will provide voice coverage to 83% of the country and data coverage to 78%. In the same period, the operator plans to provide 70,000 points of sale for buying SIM cards and 95,000 for buying airtime.
In terms of pricing, Telenor revealed that - excluding taxes - it would not...
Allen & Overy (A&O) has advised Norwegian telecom company Telenor in winning one of the first two licences for foreign companies to provide telecommunications services in Myanmar.
A&O’s Bangkok managing partner Simon Makinson led the team that advised Telenor in its bid for the license. The firm’s Bangkok office has also worked for Thailand’s major mobile phone provider Digital Total Access Communication (DTAC), of which Telenor is a majority shareholder.
A&O is a long-standing...
Keen international interest in fledgling market
* Some have abandoned bids on big investments, uncertainty
* Telecoms a test case for reform as Myanmar opens up
By Aung HlaTun and Jared Ferrie
YANGON, June 27 (Reuters) - Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo won licences on Thursday to provide telecommunications services in Myanmar, bringing foreign companies across one of the world's last telecoms frontiers.
Companies have been lobbying hard to get into the market, despite the...
Football is the most popular sport. Another sport is Chinlone, where players pass a ball around without using their hands. The focus of this game is not competition, but rather how beautifully one plays it. Lethwei, a... ... More
