Representatives of foreign telecommunications companies are stealthily
lobbying in Burma’s corridors of power as they vie for contracts to put the
country on the global phone map.
For telephone companies and
network providers faced with saturation coverage in many other countries Burma
is virgin territory.
In next-door Thailand, for
example, there is 100 percent land-line and mobile connectivity. In Burma, only
one person in every 115 has a land line. One person in 50 has a mobile phone or
access to one.
“Burma is paradise for companies
that can get a foothold on the ground floor where there are tens of millions of
potential new customers clamoring for communications,” a Bangkok telephone
company executive told The Irrawaddy. “It isn’t going to happen overnight, and
it won’t come cheap, and there are regulatory as well as infrastructure hurdles
to jump first.
“I would estimate we are talking
up to US $2 billion in network infrastructure investment,” the executive said,
speaking on condition of anonymity because of a commercial interest.
The sector is expectant. The
state Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) will reportedly soon provide
details about the awarding of development licenses for up to four companies.
A fundamental overhaul of the
old, severely restrictive and opaque laws along with a more openly competitive
and accountable regulatory structure for the future is supposed to be in the
works.
A Reuters report on Sept. 13
suggested that an announcement on a formal bidding process was imminent.
However, an industry conference is being organized in Rangoon for Oct. 16 under
the title “Myanmar Telecoms Reform Update.”
It remains unclear whether there
will be any restrictions on foreign investors and whether the state will
maintain a close hand, but nevertheless dozens of foreign suitors have had
representatives already in both Rangoon and Naypyidaw in unofficial lobbying
which evidently lacks transparency.
Companies from Sweden, Norway,
Russia, Ireland, Malaysia, Thailand and India have expressed interest in
investing in the sector, according to local media reports.
“European cell phone operators
ranging from Norway’s Telenor Group to Irish-owned Digicel are networking
quietly, anticipating the breakup of the telecommunications monopoly now held
by MPT,” Bloomberg financial news agency said recently.
Dozens of firms from Western and
Asian countries have competed for a consultancy contract to advise the
government on telecommunications, according to Reuters, which said MPT had now
whittled down applications to a shortlist of three.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian aid
journal Development Today said on Sept. 17 that Norway’s state telecoms agency,
the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority, is providing free advice
to the Burmese government on redrafting the country’s antiquated
telecommunications laws.
Bermuda-based Digicel, run by
Irish entrepreneur Denis O’Brien, is noted for establishing mobile networks in
emerging markets, and for hard lobbying. According to Bloomberg, the firm has
been visiting Burma since before Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest
and has provided technical guidance to MPT as well as sponsoring a Rangoon
football team.
“Telecommunications, including
mobile telephony, is in urgent need of investment,” said an assessment of Burma
in August by the Asian Development Bank. “The increasing trend in Asia is to
structure investments through public-private partnerships, which can help to
engage foreign private investors by reducing their perceived risks.”
An official with the World Bank
told The Irrawaddy that a modern efficient telecommunications network is a
prerequisite for economic development on a par with urgently needed expansion
and modernization of Burma’s electricity generating capacity and distribution.
“It’s important for the
government to ensure a stable policy and regulatory framework is established so
it encourages credible, world class investors to enter the market and provide
citizens with affordable and high-quality [telephone] services,” the World Bank
was quoted by Reuters as saying.
But from year zero to top-tier 4G
services in one go? That’s the view of some telephone businesses which think
Burma could adopt the latest high-speed bandwidth system because it is not
encumbered with a 2G or 3G system.
Thailand, for instance, is still
preparing to move up to 3G bandwidth over 15 years after wireless networks
first arrived in the country.
A senior official at the Ministry
of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs, Kyaw Soe, said 4G services could be
“targeted as early as 2013,” according to Reuters last week.
This same official suggested that
four network service operators would be awarded licenses and two of them would
be Burmese businesses.
4G seems a tall order in a
country where mobile phone services barely exist and Internet access is
severely limited.
SIM cards for mobiles remain on
ration and although cheaper now than one year ago still cost an astronomical
$250—unless you live in northern states where access to Chinese networks
beaming across from Yunnan Province costs as little $3 for a card.
Two hundred and fifty dollars is
way beyond the means of most people in Southeast Asia’s poorest country, where
per capita GDP is US$1,300 and one-third of the population lives in poverty.
Even if a reformed
telecommunications market brings in strong competition and pushes down prices,
a fashionable Blackberry is going to be about as attainable to millions of
Burmese as a seat on the first tourist rocket into space.
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