YANGON, Myanmar—Religious tensions engulfing Myanmar spread Friday to the world of big business: Monks and others in the Buddhist-dominated country demanded to know why a lucrative license for a new national mobile phone network had gone to a company from a Muslim nation.
Currently 7.3 million of Myanmar's 60 million people have access to mobile phones, making it one of the least connected countries in the world, according to government statistics seen Friday. Eager to push that number to 45 million by 2015, the former military-run nation decided to loosen its grip on the industry and award licenses to build and operate mobile networks.
Norway's Telenor was widely seen as a favorite and there was little surprise that it was one of the two winners announced Thursday.
But Ooredoo of Qatar, formerly known as Qatar Telecom, was a surprise to some. The company's majority shareholder is the Qatari government.
Social networking sites were alight with criticism, with comments flooding the Facebook pages of government officials who posted the official announcement.
"We should not be putting the Myanmar's telecommunications system into the hands of an Arab company," Kyaw Kyaw Oo wrote on the page of the president's office director, Hmuu Zaw. "I will not use their service."
Others said giving the contract to a Muslim-owned company was "worrisome," especially as it came at a time people were calling for protection of nationality and race.
Myanmar only recently emerged from a half-century of isolation and military rule.
Since embracing political and economic reforms in 2011, it has witnessed firsthand the downside of newfound freedoms of speech. Preaching all over the country, monks belonging to the radical Buddhist movement called 969 have been urging followers to boycott Muslim businesses and not to marry, sell property to or hire Muslims.
That has incited violence in several parts of the country with 250 people, most of them Muslims, killed in the last year and 140,000 others fleeing their homes.
"I'm really unhappy," said Shin Pyinya Dhaza, a monk from the Thaketa monastery in Yangon and a 969 supporter, when asked to comment on the telecom deal.
Some of the overlooked front-runners in the telecom deal included Singapore Telecommunications, Bharti Airtel of India, KDDI Corporation of Japan, Telenor of Norway and Digicel of the Caribbean. More than 90 international consortiums were vying for the licenses and 11 were shortlisted.
Set Aung, chairman of the government panel handling the tender, defended Ooredoo, which has operations in more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia as the "best choice." It also has deep pockets, promising to pump part of its cash pile into the network.
That the government didn't consider public sentiment was a good thing, he said.
"That just shows how transparent we are and how unbiased," he said.
In a statement released Thursday, Ooredoo said its investment in Myanmar will create a significant number of jobs and be the indirect catalyst for creating several hundred thousand jobs in areas such as sales, distribution and customer service as the mobile industry develops.
Though not a household name in Asia, Ooredoo has been stepping up its presence in the region for several years and is the biggest shareholder in Indonesian phone company Indosat. It also has stakes in Singapore's StarHub and the main phone company in Laos.
Source : www.denverpost.com
Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Concession winners to be announced despite parliamentary opposition
Despite opposition in parliament, Set Aung, who heads Myanmar’s
Telecommunications Operator Tender Evaluation and Selection Committee
(TOTSC), has told Reuters that the winners of two operating concessions
will be announced today (27 June 2013). The announcement looked set to
be delayed after the country’s lower house of parliament voted to
postpone the awarding of the concessions until the enactment of a new
telecoms law. However, Set Aung stated: ‘We are ready to announce the
final winners sometime today, according to the original schedule. We
don’t have any reason to postpone it. Parliament can’t stop it at this
point.’ After the announcement is made, the government says it will
finalise the 15-year concessions by September and the winners will need
to launch services within nine months. After five years operators are
required to provide voice services to 75% of the country, and data
services across 50%.
Source : www.telegeography.com
Source : www.telegeography.com
Telenor and Ooredoo snap up Myanmar concessions
Myanmar authorities have handed nationwide telecommunications licences to Norwegian telecoms group Telenor and Qatar’s Ooredoo – previously known as Qatar Telecom (Qtel) – in a hotly contested beauty contest auction that featured some of the heaviest hitters in the industry. Telenor and Ooredoo saw off competition from the likes of Bharti Airtel, France-Telecom-Orange, Axiata, Digicel, Millicom International Cellular (MIC), Viettel, MTN and Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel). The two winners are obliged to install wireless voice networks with 75% territory coverage for each region and state within five years of receiving their concessions. China Mobile and Vodafone withdrew from the contest earlier this month, citing concerns regarding the demands of the rollout, which the pair saw as a daunting prospect given Myanmar’s limited existing infrastructure and regular power outages.
For its part, Ooredoo plans to invest USD15 billion in the near-untouched market over the next 15 years, although that figure includes spending for OPEX, CAPEX, licence fees and taxes. Ooredoo’s chief strategy officer, Jeremy Sell commented that Myanmar’s lack of mobile infrastructure was advantageous in that his company would not need to upgrade old networks, but could create a purpose-built data network with voice capabilities: ‘It’s not a mobile phone business we are building, it’s a broadband network.’ Whilst the telco expects to reach breakeven within four years, Sell expressed concerns regarding the potential risks: ‘In the telecom sector, there is geopolitical risk and regulatory risk and [Myanmar] has them both. It’s a very young democracy and the organs of state are in their infancy and don’t have much experience, but we were very pleased the process was so intelligently planned and executed and with transparency. So if they continue as they have started we would be very happy.’
The Norwegian company meanwhile said it would roll out an HSPA and Long Term Evolution (LTE)-enabled network, reaching nationwide coverage within five years. A commercial launch featuring a full range of voice and data services has been scheduled for 2014. Telenor said its strategy for Myanmar will be based on four strategic pillars:
• Build a technically-advanced and extensive mobile network
• Drive significant growth in mobile penetration through a rapid network rollout and providing affordable services through an extensive distribution network across the country
• Become the market leader in Myanmar by offering the most comprehensive portfolio, of relevant mobile services of high quality to everyone
• By offering good quality service and an excellent customer experience we aim at creating loyalty and trust with our future customers in Myanmar.
Source : www.telegeography.com
For its part, Ooredoo plans to invest USD15 billion in the near-untouched market over the next 15 years, although that figure includes spending for OPEX, CAPEX, licence fees and taxes. Ooredoo’s chief strategy officer, Jeremy Sell commented that Myanmar’s lack of mobile infrastructure was advantageous in that his company would not need to upgrade old networks, but could create a purpose-built data network with voice capabilities: ‘It’s not a mobile phone business we are building, it’s a broadband network.’ Whilst the telco expects to reach breakeven within four years, Sell expressed concerns regarding the potential risks: ‘In the telecom sector, there is geopolitical risk and regulatory risk and [Myanmar] has them both. It’s a very young democracy and the organs of state are in their infancy and don’t have much experience, but we were very pleased the process was so intelligently planned and executed and with transparency. So if they continue as they have started we would be very happy.’
The Norwegian company meanwhile said it would roll out an HSPA and Long Term Evolution (LTE)-enabled network, reaching nationwide coverage within five years. A commercial launch featuring a full range of voice and data services has been scheduled for 2014. Telenor said its strategy for Myanmar will be based on four strategic pillars:
• Build a technically-advanced and extensive mobile network
• Drive significant growth in mobile penetration through a rapid network rollout and providing affordable services through an extensive distribution network across the country
• Become the market leader in Myanmar by offering the most comprehensive portfolio, of relevant mobile services of high quality to everyone
• By offering good quality service and an excellent customer experience we aim at creating loyalty and trust with our future customers in Myanmar.
Source : www.telegeography.com
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Myanmar's telecom race enters final stretch
By ROBIN McDOWELL — Associated Press
YANGON, Myanmar — Foreign companies will tap into one of the world's final telecom frontiers Thursday when Myanmar hands out licenses to operate two new mobile phone networks - part of efforts by the long-isolated nation to use technology to spur economic development.
Currently less than 6 million of country's 60 million people have mobile phones, putting it on par with North Korea when it comes to connectivity. The government hopes it will be able to push mobile phone usage rates to 80 percent within three years by releasing its grip on the industry.
Those are the kinds of numbers that have left international telecom consortiums salivating.
Of the 90 that initially submitted bids, 11 have been shortlisted including Singapore Telecommunications, Bharti Airtel of India, KDDI Corporation of Japan, Telenor of Norway and Digicel of the Caribbean - some opening offices and even recruiting staff in gleeful anticipation of the announcement.
"It's a great first start," said Richard Dobbs, director of the McKinsey Global Institute. "My only hope is that the winners will move quickly to get broadband - either 2G, 3G or 4G - rolled out countrywide."
He said the government views the opening of telecommunications to foreign investment as an opportunity to spur the type of rapid economic growth that has raised living standards in other developing countries.
"This should not just be about profit maximizing," he said. "It should be about enabling other services," Dobbs said.
By using mobile banking and e-commerce the country may be able to spread banking and other consumer services more widely and at a reduced cost. Mobile telecommunications could also extend health and education services to even the remotest villages.
Myanmar, located in the heart of one of the fastest growing regions in the world, became one of the most isolated and poorest nations during its half-century of iron-clad military rule.
After taking control of a quasi-civilian government in 2011, former general Thein Sein started implementing promised political and economic reforms.
But the country faces monumental development challenges. Some roads are almost unnavigable, with pot holes several meters wide. Electricity blackouts are routine. Real estate prices in the commercial capital Yangon rival New York City due to limited supply and a surge in demand brought on by the country's emergence from isolation.
The communications industry, long-neglected by the country's military rulers, is in need of a complete overhaul. That's in part because the original network set up by the country's military rulers was intended for only a tiny number of subscribers - mostly the rich. Up until a few years ago, the cost of SIM cards could reach $2,000.
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, says there are tremendous advantages to starting from scratch.
"You all will have an opportunity to skip all the previous ... generations of technology," he told a group of young business leaders during a visit to Yangon earlier this year.
"You'll have fiberoptic cable in your cities. You'll have 3G and 4G networks that will connect to smartphones. You will literally leapfrog 20 years of difficult to maintain infrastructure."
Experts are quick to point out, however, that while the potential returns for the winners of Thursday's bid are staggering, so are the risks.
Investors preparing to invest billions of dollars are rightly nervous about how political reform will evolve, whether the government can maintain the fragile peace between ethnic groups, and how regulation and ownership rights will develop.
The government insists a new industry regulator will take over within the next few years, but the job is still effectively in the hands of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. A telecom bill to set the legal framework for the industry is stuck in parliament.
Foreign companies "will be entering the market while the process is still taking place and major reforms are yet to happen," said Peter Evans, a senior analyst at the telecom research group, BuddComm.
It's also unclear what role the state-owned incumbent telecom operator, Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, will be playing. The idea is that it will eventually be divorced from state control but what its structure, funding and role will be at this time remains unclear.
Yatanarpon, which is majority government-owned and primarily an Internet service provider until now, has a much smaller network. And also newly on the scene is the army-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation.
Source : Herald Online
YANGON, Myanmar — Foreign companies will tap into one of the world's final telecom frontiers Thursday when Myanmar hands out licenses to operate two new mobile phone networks - part of efforts by the long-isolated nation to use technology to spur economic development.
Currently less than 6 million of country's 60 million people have mobile phones, putting it on par with North Korea when it comes to connectivity. The government hopes it will be able to push mobile phone usage rates to 80 percent within three years by releasing its grip on the industry.
Those are the kinds of numbers that have left international telecom consortiums salivating.
Of the 90 that initially submitted bids, 11 have been shortlisted including Singapore Telecommunications, Bharti Airtel of India, KDDI Corporation of Japan, Telenor of Norway and Digicel of the Caribbean - some opening offices and even recruiting staff in gleeful anticipation of the announcement.
"It's a great first start," said Richard Dobbs, director of the McKinsey Global Institute. "My only hope is that the winners will move quickly to get broadband - either 2G, 3G or 4G - rolled out countrywide."
He said the government views the opening of telecommunications to foreign investment as an opportunity to spur the type of rapid economic growth that has raised living standards in other developing countries.
"This should not just be about profit maximizing," he said. "It should be about enabling other services," Dobbs said.
By using mobile banking and e-commerce the country may be able to spread banking and other consumer services more widely and at a reduced cost. Mobile telecommunications could also extend health and education services to even the remotest villages.
Myanmar, located in the heart of one of the fastest growing regions in the world, became one of the most isolated and poorest nations during its half-century of iron-clad military rule.
After taking control of a quasi-civilian government in 2011, former general Thein Sein started implementing promised political and economic reforms.
But the country faces monumental development challenges. Some roads are almost unnavigable, with pot holes several meters wide. Electricity blackouts are routine. Real estate prices in the commercial capital Yangon rival New York City due to limited supply and a surge in demand brought on by the country's emergence from isolation.
The communications industry, long-neglected by the country's military rulers, is in need of a complete overhaul. That's in part because the original network set up by the country's military rulers was intended for only a tiny number of subscribers - mostly the rich. Up until a few years ago, the cost of SIM cards could reach $2,000.
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, says there are tremendous advantages to starting from scratch.
"You all will have an opportunity to skip all the previous ... generations of technology," he told a group of young business leaders during a visit to Yangon earlier this year.
"You'll have fiberoptic cable in your cities. You'll have 3G and 4G networks that will connect to smartphones. You will literally leapfrog 20 years of difficult to maintain infrastructure."
Experts are quick to point out, however, that while the potential returns for the winners of Thursday's bid are staggering, so are the risks.
Investors preparing to invest billions of dollars are rightly nervous about how political reform will evolve, whether the government can maintain the fragile peace between ethnic groups, and how regulation and ownership rights will develop.
The government insists a new industry regulator will take over within the next few years, but the job is still effectively in the hands of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. A telecom bill to set the legal framework for the industry is stuck in parliament.
Foreign companies "will be entering the market while the process is still taking place and major reforms are yet to happen," said Peter Evans, a senior analyst at the telecom research group, BuddComm.
It's also unclear what role the state-owned incumbent telecom operator, Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, will be playing. The idea is that it will eventually be divorced from state control but what its structure, funding and role will be at this time remains unclear.
Yatanarpon, which is majority government-owned and primarily an Internet service provider until now, has a much smaller network. And also newly on the scene is the army-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation.
Source : Herald Online
Myanmar Bans TIME Magazine Issue Over ‘Buddhist Terror’ Cover
By Shibani Mahtani
YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s government has banned this week’s international issue of TIME after widespread outrage in the country over the magazine’s cover story featuring a controversial monk known as the Venerable Wirathu with the title “The Face of Buddhist Terror.”
Ye Htut, spokesperson for President Thein Sein, said on his official Facebook FB +1.30% page Tuesday evening that copies of the magazine “would not be sold and distributed to prevent the recurrence of racial and religious conflict.”
TIME profiles the Venerable Wirathu, leader of the Buddhist 969 movement that advocates the social exclusion of the country’s minority Muslim population. The movement has been accused of stirring up deadly clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that have spread across the country over the past year, leaving more than 140,000 people displaced and more than 200 dead, most of whom were Muslims. Buddhist mobs have attacked mosques and Muslim businesses, and stickers and pamphlets of the 969 movement have often appeared during and after the violence.
The monk denies responsibility for the violence. But in countless media interviews, he has expressed pride in being a radical Buddhist and has called for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses. This Thursday, he will hold a forum in order to garner support for a law he has proposed to restrict marriages between Buddhist women and anyone outside their religion, which he hopes would carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Tuesday’s ban on the publication is the first time that Myanmar’s government has put any blatant restrictions on Western media since it embarked on a series of sweeping political and economic reforms two years ago. Explaining its decision, the government said on state television Tuesday evening that the article could damage reconciliation between the two groups. It remains unclear how the Myanmar government would block access of the article online for internet users in Myanmar.
On Sunday, the president’s office issued a rare statement condemning the magazine piece and labeling the 969 movement “peaceful.” The statement defended the Venerable Wirathu, calling him a “son of Buddha,” and said the article could negatively affect the perception of Buddhists in the country. The statement followed calls for the boycott of TIME magazine on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and vociferous statements from angry Buddhists attacking the Western media and the author behind the piece personally.
Analysts say, though, that this rare condemnation from the Myanmar government could serve to embolden more radical elements within the Buddhist community, and spur further attacks on the country’s minority Muslims. Some have also criticized the TIME magazine piece for being overly provocative and for implicating the Buddhist religion rather than specific actors for violence against the country’s Muslims.
The government’s response and tacit support for the Venerable Wirathu and the 969 movement is a “really bad sign of things to come for Myanmar Muslims,” said Maung Zarni, a Burmese academic at the London School of Economics, because it allows radical elements in society to operate with impunity. Mr. Maung Zarni also criticized the TIME magazine piece for reporting that he says can have a “heavy societal cost” on the Myanmar people by whipping up tensions between the two communities.
The Venerable Wirathu, who also has spoken out against the piece, says that he won’t sue TIME magazine for defamation, what he believes is keeping true to Buddhist principles of acceptance.
Myo Myo contributed to this article.
Source : WSJ
YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s government has banned this week’s international issue of TIME after widespread outrage in the country over the magazine’s cover story featuring a controversial monk known as the Venerable Wirathu with the title “The Face of Buddhist Terror.”
 |
| Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Myanmar has banned this issue of Time magazine carrying the words, “The Face of Buddhist Terror,” with a photo of a controversial Buddhist monk. |
Ye Htut, spokesperson for President Thein Sein, said on his official Facebook FB +1.30% page Tuesday evening that copies of the magazine “would not be sold and distributed to prevent the recurrence of racial and religious conflict.”
TIME profiles the Venerable Wirathu, leader of the Buddhist 969 movement that advocates the social exclusion of the country’s minority Muslim population. The movement has been accused of stirring up deadly clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that have spread across the country over the past year, leaving more than 140,000 people displaced and more than 200 dead, most of whom were Muslims. Buddhist mobs have attacked mosques and Muslim businesses, and stickers and pamphlets of the 969 movement have often appeared during and after the violence.
The monk denies responsibility for the violence. But in countless media interviews, he has expressed pride in being a radical Buddhist and has called for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses. This Thursday, he will hold a forum in order to garner support for a law he has proposed to restrict marriages between Buddhist women and anyone outside their religion, which he hopes would carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Tuesday’s ban on the publication is the first time that Myanmar’s government has put any blatant restrictions on Western media since it embarked on a series of sweeping political and economic reforms two years ago. Explaining its decision, the government said on state television Tuesday evening that the article could damage reconciliation between the two groups. It remains unclear how the Myanmar government would block access of the article online for internet users in Myanmar.
On Sunday, the president’s office issued a rare statement condemning the magazine piece and labeling the 969 movement “peaceful.” The statement defended the Venerable Wirathu, calling him a “son of Buddha,” and said the article could negatively affect the perception of Buddhists in the country. The statement followed calls for the boycott of TIME magazine on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and vociferous statements from angry Buddhists attacking the Western media and the author behind the piece personally.
Analysts say, though, that this rare condemnation from the Myanmar government could serve to embolden more radical elements within the Buddhist community, and spur further attacks on the country’s minority Muslims. Some have also criticized the TIME magazine piece for being overly provocative and for implicating the Buddhist religion rather than specific actors for violence against the country’s Muslims.
The government’s response and tacit support for the Venerable Wirathu and the 969 movement is a “really bad sign of things to come for Myanmar Muslims,” said Maung Zarni, a Burmese academic at the London School of Economics, because it allows radical elements in society to operate with impunity. Mr. Maung Zarni also criticized the TIME magazine piece for reporting that he says can have a “heavy societal cost” on the Myanmar people by whipping up tensions between the two communities.
The Venerable Wirathu, who also has spoken out against the piece, says that he won’t sue TIME magazine for defamation, what he believes is keeping true to Buddhist principles of acceptance.
Myo Myo contributed to this article.
Source : WSJ
Sunday, June 23, 2013
MTN sets its sights on Burma
IT SOUNDS almost archaic: a place where mobile penetration is sitting at about 10%.
But this is the prospect that has mobile operators round the world salivating at the chance to enter Burma, which was under military rule until 2010.
One of the contenders is home-grown mobile giant MTN, which has formed a consortium with Singapore telecommunications company M1 Telecom and Amara Communications, a subsidiary of IGE, which is reported to be owned by the sons of former Burmese industry minister Aung Thaung.
For MTN, which is facing increasing competition in Nigeria and South Africa, a licence to operate in Burma would be just what it needs to boost flat revenues.
Evelin Petkov, founder and owner of the Myanmar Business Organisation, said Burma’s telecommunications market had poor infrastructure and excessive costs.
According to Petkov, until the beginning of this year the cost of a sim card was nearly $250 (about R2100 at an average rate of R8.50), but the cost was down significantly to about $10.
A survey released this week by research firm Analysys Mason on the Burmese telecommunications market, said the discounting of sim cards via a lottery system had increased access to cellphones among low-income groups.
“Even though the sim cards are relatively cheap, they are not freely available on the market as the supply is very limited,” said Petkov.
He said that although the telecommunication infrastructure was underdeveloped, the government had plans to increase penetration from 10% to 85% in the next couple of years.
“Currently, there is only one telecom provider, a government-owned company, but by the end of this year there will be four companies. This will lead to competition, higher quality infrastructure and cheap sim cards. As a result, cellphone users will benefit the most,” said Petkov.
The Analysys Mason report also put a damper on the Burmese government’s mobile penetration ambitions, saying lack of rural coverage could undermine government’s targets.
“We believe strongly in the market’s potential, and expect it to outperform many of its nearest neighbours over a comparable time frame.
“However, it seems unlikely that the government’s stated target of 50% mobile penetration by 2015 is achievable because of the lack of infrastructure outside the cities,” the report said.
Although the report lauded Burma for the new opportunities, it raised issues that tint the rosy picture.
“Some groups in urban areas show a definite lack of interest in services, and the willingness and ability to pay in rural areas remains untested,” said the report.
Problematic factors included a lack of disposable income, not being aware of services, minimal coverage in urban areas and the use of English as Burmese scripts are not normally supported on handsets.
“Operators working in areas close to Myanmar’s borders will need to compete with Chinese and Thai networks, which are reportedly popular among Myanmar’s early adopters and are likely to be superior to the country’s own networks for the foreseeable future,” the report said.
MTN is up against some big hitters for the licence. They include India’s Bharti Airtel, France’s Orange Telecom and Qatar Telecom.
However, many observers feel that as Vodafone and China Mobile have withdrawn, MTN’s chances are good. Indeed, analysts believe that MTN’s experience in emerging markets might tip the scales in its favour.
“I think MTN probably has a reasonably good chance of winning this licence,” said Dobek Pater, an analyst at Africa Analysis. “MTN does have the experience of growing the telecoms (mobile) market in practically greenfields operations in developing markets (some of them similarly underdeveloped and impoverished to Myanmar),” said Mr Pater.
• This article was first published in Sunday Times: Business Times
Source : Business Day BD live
 |
| MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa. Picture: BUSINESS DAY |
One of the contenders is home-grown mobile giant MTN, which has formed a consortium with Singapore telecommunications company M1 Telecom and Amara Communications, a subsidiary of IGE, which is reported to be owned by the sons of former Burmese industry minister Aung Thaung.
For MTN, which is facing increasing competition in Nigeria and South Africa, a licence to operate in Burma would be just what it needs to boost flat revenues.
Evelin Petkov, founder and owner of the Myanmar Business Organisation, said Burma’s telecommunications market had poor infrastructure and excessive costs.
According to Petkov, until the beginning of this year the cost of a sim card was nearly $250 (about R2100 at an average rate of R8.50), but the cost was down significantly to about $10.
A survey released this week by research firm Analysys Mason on the Burmese telecommunications market, said the discounting of sim cards via a lottery system had increased access to cellphones among low-income groups.
“Even though the sim cards are relatively cheap, they are not freely available on the market as the supply is very limited,” said Petkov.
He said that although the telecommunication infrastructure was underdeveloped, the government had plans to increase penetration from 10% to 85% in the next couple of years.
“Currently, there is only one telecom provider, a government-owned company, but by the end of this year there will be four companies. This will lead to competition, higher quality infrastructure and cheap sim cards. As a result, cellphone users will benefit the most,” said Petkov.
The Analysys Mason report also put a damper on the Burmese government’s mobile penetration ambitions, saying lack of rural coverage could undermine government’s targets.
“We believe strongly in the market’s potential, and expect it to outperform many of its nearest neighbours over a comparable time frame.
“However, it seems unlikely that the government’s stated target of 50% mobile penetration by 2015 is achievable because of the lack of infrastructure outside the cities,” the report said.
Although the report lauded Burma for the new opportunities, it raised issues that tint the rosy picture.
“Some groups in urban areas show a definite lack of interest in services, and the willingness and ability to pay in rural areas remains untested,” said the report.
Problematic factors included a lack of disposable income, not being aware of services, minimal coverage in urban areas and the use of English as Burmese scripts are not normally supported on handsets.
“Operators working in areas close to Myanmar’s borders will need to compete with Chinese and Thai networks, which are reportedly popular among Myanmar’s early adopters and are likely to be superior to the country’s own networks for the foreseeable future,” the report said.
MTN is up against some big hitters for the licence. They include India’s Bharti Airtel, France’s Orange Telecom and Qatar Telecom.
However, many observers feel that as Vodafone and China Mobile have withdrawn, MTN’s chances are good. Indeed, analysts believe that MTN’s experience in emerging markets might tip the scales in its favour.
“I think MTN probably has a reasonably good chance of winning this licence,” said Dobek Pater, an analyst at Africa Analysis. “MTN does have the experience of growing the telecoms (mobile) market in practically greenfields operations in developing markets (some of them similarly underdeveloped and impoverished to Myanmar),” said Mr Pater.
• This article was first published in Sunday Times: Business Times
Source : Business Day BD live
Friday, June 21, 2013
Telecom companies start recruiting ahead of Myanmar license announcement
Competition between foreign telecom companies intensified as many begin recruiting local employees less than a week before Myanmar's government is due to announce the winners of two lucrative operating licenses.
Experts say that this is one of the most competitive international bids in what is regarded as one of the world's last untapped mobile markets. The government is expected to announce the two winners on June 27.
"We will employ local and foreign workers fifty-fifty at the beginning. Later there will be more local employees at our company but monthly salaries for them will be according to the national rules," said Andy Chong of Axiata Group, one Asia's biggest telecom companies.
Although many foreign companies in the bidding for the two mobile licenses have started recruiting, qualified professionals in Myanmar are scarce. Digicel, who is also in the running, is already accepting applicants.
"We now started accepting job applications for our company. We will choose those who meet our required qualifications," said an official from Digicel.
Singapore's Singtel, who has teamed up with Myanmar partners KBZ and M-Tel, are also seeking employees. Though other bidders have yet to start recruiting, many companies have been promising jobs for Myanmar workers.
Source : Eleven Myanmar
Experts say that this is one of the most competitive international bids in what is regarded as one of the world's last untapped mobile markets. The government is expected to announce the two winners on June 27.
"We will employ local and foreign workers fifty-fifty at the beginning. Later there will be more local employees at our company but monthly salaries for them will be according to the national rules," said Andy Chong of Axiata Group, one Asia's biggest telecom companies.
Although many foreign companies in the bidding for the two mobile licenses have started recruiting, qualified professionals in Myanmar are scarce. Digicel, who is also in the running, is already accepting applicants.
"We now started accepting job applications for our company. We will choose those who meet our required qualifications," said an official from Digicel.
Singapore's Singtel, who has teamed up with Myanmar partners KBZ and M-Tel, are also seeking employees. Though other bidders have yet to start recruiting, many companies have been promising jobs for Myanmar workers.
Source : Eleven Myanmar
Chinese telecom companies call on Myanmar
By Qin Zhongwei in Yangon (China Daily)
Huawei, others aiming to boost one of the most underdeveloped markets in Asia
Chinese telecom companies are enthusiastic about Myanmar's efforts to boost its underdeveloped telecom market, said a high-level manager at the Myanmar branch of a top Chinese telecom company.
"The inflow of top telecom operators from all over the world creates a brilliant opportunity to upgrade the country's telecom sector," said Ren Geng, managing director of Huawei Technologies in Yangon.
Huawei is now the world's second-largest provider of telecommunication gear and mobile phones. It has established an excellent cooperation model with the world's major operators and it can replicate the successful model in Myanmar, he said.
After spending a decade cultivating the Myanmar market for 10 years, Huawei opened its first flagship showroom in downtown Yangon in early May. It attracted huge attention from local consumers and media.
Huawei's handsets are the most popular brand in Myanmar, garnering a market share of more than 60 percent. The mission for the company's Myanmar branch this year is to open 40 to 60 flagship showrooms around the country, which will provide smartphones and other high-tech products, Ren said.
Though it has a population of more than 60 million, the number of telecom customers in Myanmar is comparatively low at about 3.5 to 4 million, which is why the Myanmar market is so lucrative to international companies, experts said.
"Basically the only way to go with telecoms in Myanmar is up. This is one of the last remaining untapped markets," said a Bangkok-based telecom analyst in a Financial Times story.
Thomas Liu, managing director in charge of Huawei's Southeast Asia region, expects the number of mobile users in Myanmar to reach 30 million within five years, based on its young population.
But the growth in numbers will not be easy without making the dream of owning a handset cheaper and more affordable. It costs $200 to buy a SIM card in Myanmar.
In late May, the Myanmar telecom regulator announced that it was selling 350,000 SIM cards for the price of K1500 (around $2). As a tentative step in telecom reform, the cards were sold lucky-draw style.
In the case of Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, local residents began lining up at 5 am and waited as long as three hours to get their hands on the much cheaper card.
In addition to the shortage of handsets and the expense of SIM cards, the development of Myanmar's telecom infrastructure is far from adequate, and this is another sector urgently needing international cooperation, industry insiders pointed out.
"The number of (mobile) towers in the country is still not enough," Htay Win, chief engineer of Myanmar Post and Telecommunication, the state-owned telephone service provider, told media in April. The government will build more towers with the money it gets from selling SIM cards to local mobile users.
MPT is currently working with companies such as Huawei, ZTE and ASP to build the towers across the country.
At the moment, around 90 companies worldwide are vying for a piece of the pie from this sought-after new market.
The Myanmar government announced in January that it would grant two licenses, each with initial terms of 15 years, in an effort to liberalize its underdeveloped market, according to local media.
The application list includes 22 international telecom companies, and the two successful bidders will be announced by the end of June.
Thin Thin Swe from Myanmar television station MI told China Daily that Chinese products, such as Huawei's, are very popular in Myanmar because of their high-tech quality and affordable price.
Mya Than Zaw, head of Truly Myanmar Travel Agency, said the people of Myanmar are looking forward to using a low-cost SIM card without limitations, and they expect a better service.
Source : People's Daily Online
 |
| Even monks were not immune to the excitement when Huawei's showroom opened in Yangon, Myanmar. The company's handsets are the most popular in Myanmar, garnering a market share of more than 60 percent. The company plans to open 40 to 60 flagship showrooms in the country this year, offering smartphones and other high-tech products. Zhang Wei / China Daily |
Huawei, others aiming to boost one of the most underdeveloped markets in Asia
Chinese telecom companies are enthusiastic about Myanmar's efforts to boost its underdeveloped telecom market, said a high-level manager at the Myanmar branch of a top Chinese telecom company.
"The inflow of top telecom operators from all over the world creates a brilliant opportunity to upgrade the country's telecom sector," said Ren Geng, managing director of Huawei Technologies in Yangon.
Huawei is now the world's second-largest provider of telecommunication gear and mobile phones. It has established an excellent cooperation model with the world's major operators and it can replicate the successful model in Myanmar, he said.
After spending a decade cultivating the Myanmar market for 10 years, Huawei opened its first flagship showroom in downtown Yangon in early May. It attracted huge attention from local consumers and media.
Huawei's handsets are the most popular brand in Myanmar, garnering a market share of more than 60 percent. The mission for the company's Myanmar branch this year is to open 40 to 60 flagship showrooms around the country, which will provide smartphones and other high-tech products, Ren said.
Though it has a population of more than 60 million, the number of telecom customers in Myanmar is comparatively low at about 3.5 to 4 million, which is why the Myanmar market is so lucrative to international companies, experts said.
"Basically the only way to go with telecoms in Myanmar is up. This is one of the last remaining untapped markets," said a Bangkok-based telecom analyst in a Financial Times story.
Thomas Liu, managing director in charge of Huawei's Southeast Asia region, expects the number of mobile users in Myanmar to reach 30 million within five years, based on its young population.
But the growth in numbers will not be easy without making the dream of owning a handset cheaper and more affordable. It costs $200 to buy a SIM card in Myanmar.
In late May, the Myanmar telecom regulator announced that it was selling 350,000 SIM cards for the price of K1500 (around $2). As a tentative step in telecom reform, the cards were sold lucky-draw style.
In the case of Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, local residents began lining up at 5 am and waited as long as three hours to get their hands on the much cheaper card.
 |
| People waiting outside the first flagship showroom of Chinese telecom giant Huawei in downtown Yangon, Myanmar, in early May. The showroom attracted huge attention from consumers and media. Zhang Wei / China Daily |
"The number of (mobile) towers in the country is still not enough," Htay Win, chief engineer of Myanmar Post and Telecommunication, the state-owned telephone service provider, told media in April. The government will build more towers with the money it gets from selling SIM cards to local mobile users.
MPT is currently working with companies such as Huawei, ZTE and ASP to build the towers across the country.
At the moment, around 90 companies worldwide are vying for a piece of the pie from this sought-after new market.
The Myanmar government announced in January that it would grant two licenses, each with initial terms of 15 years, in an effort to liberalize its underdeveloped market, according to local media.
The application list includes 22 international telecom companies, and the two successful bidders will be announced by the end of June.
Thin Thin Swe from Myanmar television station MI told China Daily that Chinese products, such as Huawei's, are very popular in Myanmar because of their high-tech quality and affordable price.
Mya Than Zaw, head of Truly Myanmar Travel Agency, said the people of Myanmar are looking forward to using a low-cost SIM card without limitations, and they expect a better service.
Source : People's Daily Online
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Aircel Introduces International Roaming For Myanmar
Telecom player Aircel has partnered with Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), a sole provider of telecommunication services in Myanmar, to offer international roaming services for its customers travelling to the country. This roaming facility is available for postpaid subscribers of all Aircel circles. With this exclusive partnership, Aircel becomes the first Indian telecom operator to offer such services to its customers for Myanmar.
Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer, Aircel,said “Aircel is committed to offer its valuable customers with innovative products and services and ensure they are always well connected. A sizeable number of customers travel to Myanmar for work and leisure and our international roaming services will allow them to be connected 24X7. The customers will now be able to enjoy roaming facilities in all key destinations in Myanmar.”
The applicable rates will be:
* Outgoing calls within Myanmar: Rs. 55/min
* Outgoing calls to India/other countries: Rs. 80/min
* Incoming calls: Rs. 60/min
Earlier this year, Aircel created voice disruption in the Indian telecom industry by introducing a revolutionary product ‘One Nation One Rate’ which pioneered the concept of ‘free roaming’ in the country.
MPT is a Government Agency, operating under the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs, Myanmar.
Source : LIGHT READING INDIA
Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer, Aircel,said “Aircel is committed to offer its valuable customers with innovative products and services and ensure they are always well connected. A sizeable number of customers travel to Myanmar for work and leisure and our international roaming services will allow them to be connected 24X7. The customers will now be able to enjoy roaming facilities in all key destinations in Myanmar.”
The applicable rates will be:
* Outgoing calls within Myanmar: Rs. 55/min
* Outgoing calls to India/other countries: Rs. 80/min
* Incoming calls: Rs. 60/min
Earlier this year, Aircel created voice disruption in the Indian telecom industry by introducing a revolutionary product ‘One Nation One Rate’ which pioneered the concept of ‘free roaming’ in the country.
MPT is a Government Agency, operating under the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs, Myanmar.
Source : LIGHT READING INDIA
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Huawei chosen for Myanmar rollout
Chinese vendor Huawei has been selected to work with state-backed telco
Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT) to expand wireless networks in
the country, local news portal Eleven Myanmar writes, citing sources
from MPT. Huawei fended off competition from Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and ZTE to win the contract and has pledged to invest USD34 million in the project.
Source : www.telegeography.com
Source : www.telegeography.com
Friday, June 14, 2013
Decades-old bets in Myanmar's tech industry finally reap rewards
It may have taken almost two decades, but Tun Thura Thet’s investment in one of Asia’s poorest countries is finally paying off.
“I’ve been waiting here for 17 years to have this moment,” he said, sitting at his office in Yangon, Myanmar. “After 10 or 12 years, we almost gave up.”
Tun Thura Thet is CEO of Myanmar Information Technology (MIT), one of the few software companies that managed to survive under the country’s military rule. But after years of facing a stagnant business environment, Myanmar’s tech industry is starting to tap into opportunities brought on by the nation’s move toward democracy.
MIT, founded in 1997, is a maker of enterprise software and expects to ride high on the reforms ushered in by the country’s new civilian government. Last week, the company gained global attention when it became Microsoft’s major supplier for its software products in the nation. Making the deal possible was the decision by the U.S. to lift trade sanctions on the country, Tun Thura Thet said.
The company is also helping local banks pave the way for modern financial services, including establishing Myanmar’s first ATMs. “Just last month we launched mobile banking for one of the banks,” he said. “This is one of the things we are very excited about. In Myanmar, we can always be the first to do these things. In other countries, you don’t have this chance.”
It marks a major contrast from over a decade ago, when Tun Thura Thet was unsure his company would succeed under the country’s military rule. Home to 60 million people, Myanmar represents one of the last untapped markets in Asia and its tech industry has struggled to grow. Even now, Internet penetration in the country is only at 1 percent and electricity can be scarce. Most people cannot afford to buy mobile phones, let alone purchase a PC.
“The tech market here has been small,” said Tun Thura Thet, whose company employs 300 people but is considered large by local standards. Only about 10 local software firms operate in the country, he estimated.
MIT was able to thrive by selling enterprise software to Myanmar banks. But following the country’s banking crisis in 2003, the company resorted to going abroad, and expanded to Singapore in 2005 as an offshoring provider. The country’s past censorship of the Internet was another obstacle that threatened to derail his business. So in 2001, MIT and several other tech firms banded together to form a government-approved technology park in Yangon, with better access to the Internet.
The company was lucky to survive under such conditions, he said. Tun Thura Thet remembers the frustration.
“Why am I here? I’m wasting my time,” he recalled thinking. “I’m wasting everything, my youth, my innovation, my opportunities, everything. But again, what brought me back is the people. If you’re a leader you have to work hard until there’s a transformation.”
Others in Myanmar’s tech industry are also reaping the benefits of that same transformation. Thaung Su Nyein is managing director of Information Matrix, an IT and media company also based in Yangon. Like Tun Thura Tet, he also made a decade-old bet on Myanmar’s tech industry stretching back to 1999 when he decided to leave New York and return to his home country.
“I wanted to be the next Yahoo! in Myanmar,” he remembered. “I wanted to be that pioneer.”
But his business plan quickly collided with Myanmar’s attempts to control the Internet. After arriving, Thaung Su Nyein learned that local authorities had detained several people for starting email services in the country. The government had also made it illegal to offer any kind of private Internet service.
“Politics was really bad at that time. Basically you were providing this outside gateway out of the government’s hands,” he said. “This was really dangerous in the eyes of the government. But for the IT business guys, they didn’t even think about that.”
It forced Thaung Su Nyein to scale back his business plan, and instead try to start an “offline cyber cafe.” At the cafe, PCs would be loaded with pre-downloaded Web content imported on CDs shipped from Singapore. But authorities were quick to intervene, and shutdown his business.
“The leadership didn’t like the word ‘Internet’,” he recalled. But despite his business plan’s failure, Thaung Su Nyein found success in print media, and began releasing a publication covering technology. His company now publishes several weekly journals, in addition to operating online portals, and running a web development business.
Since Myanmar’s new government took power in 2011, a sea of change has occurred in the country, he said. The government has ended the strict online censorship, and wants Internet and telecommunications to play a major role in developing Myanmar, Thaung Su Nyein added.
In addition, the government reforms are expected to open up Myanmar’s mobile Internet market, potentially bringing a flood of online users to Thaung Su Nyein’s publications. By 2016, Myanmar wants mobile penetration in the nation to reach between 75 and 80 percent.
“We could get tens of thousands of reader on our mobile apps,” Thaung Su Nyein said. “That’s something we are looking forward to.”
Source : PCWorld
“I’ve been waiting here for 17 years to have this moment,” he said, sitting at his office in Yangon, Myanmar. “After 10 or 12 years, we almost gave up.”
Tun Thura Thet is CEO of Myanmar Information Technology (MIT), one of the few software companies that managed to survive under the country’s military rule. But after years of facing a stagnant business environment, Myanmar’s tech industry is starting to tap into opportunities brought on by the nation’s move toward democracy.
MIT, founded in 1997, is a maker of enterprise software and expects to ride high on the reforms ushered in by the country’s new civilian government. Last week, the company gained global attention when it became Microsoft’s major supplier for its software products in the nation. Making the deal possible was the decision by the U.S. to lift trade sanctions on the country, Tun Thura Thet said.
The company is also helping local banks pave the way for modern financial services, including establishing Myanmar’s first ATMs. “Just last month we launched mobile banking for one of the banks,” he said. “This is one of the things we are very excited about. In Myanmar, we can always be the first to do these things. In other countries, you don’t have this chance.”
It marks a major contrast from over a decade ago, when Tun Thura Thet was unsure his company would succeed under the country’s military rule. Home to 60 million people, Myanmar represents one of the last untapped markets in Asia and its tech industry has struggled to grow. Even now, Internet penetration in the country is only at 1 percent and electricity can be scarce. Most people cannot afford to buy mobile phones, let alone purchase a PC.
“The tech market here has been small,” said Tun Thura Thet, whose company employs 300 people but is considered large by local standards. Only about 10 local software firms operate in the country, he estimated.
MIT was able to thrive by selling enterprise software to Myanmar banks. But following the country’s banking crisis in 2003, the company resorted to going abroad, and expanded to Singapore in 2005 as an offshoring provider. The country’s past censorship of the Internet was another obstacle that threatened to derail his business. So in 2001, MIT and several other tech firms banded together to form a government-approved technology park in Yangon, with better access to the Internet.
The company was lucky to survive under such conditions, he said. Tun Thura Thet remembers the frustration.
“Why am I here? I’m wasting my time,” he recalled thinking. “I’m wasting everything, my youth, my innovation, my opportunities, everything. But again, what brought me back is the people. If you’re a leader you have to work hard until there’s a transformation.”
Others in Myanmar’s tech industry are also reaping the benefits of that same transformation. Thaung Su Nyein is managing director of Information Matrix, an IT and media company also based in Yangon. Like Tun Thura Tet, he also made a decade-old bet on Myanmar’s tech industry stretching back to 1999 when he decided to leave New York and return to his home country.
“I wanted to be the next Yahoo! in Myanmar,” he remembered. “I wanted to be that pioneer.”
But his business plan quickly collided with Myanmar’s attempts to control the Internet. After arriving, Thaung Su Nyein learned that local authorities had detained several people for starting email services in the country. The government had also made it illegal to offer any kind of private Internet service.
“Politics was really bad at that time. Basically you were providing this outside gateway out of the government’s hands,” he said. “This was really dangerous in the eyes of the government. But for the IT business guys, they didn’t even think about that.”
It forced Thaung Su Nyein to scale back his business plan, and instead try to start an “offline cyber cafe.” At the cafe, PCs would be loaded with pre-downloaded Web content imported on CDs shipped from Singapore. But authorities were quick to intervene, and shutdown his business.
“The leadership didn’t like the word ‘Internet’,” he recalled. But despite his business plan’s failure, Thaung Su Nyein found success in print media, and began releasing a publication covering technology. His company now publishes several weekly journals, in addition to operating online portals, and running a web development business.
Since Myanmar’s new government took power in 2011, a sea of change has occurred in the country, he said. The government has ended the strict online censorship, and wants Internet and telecommunications to play a major role in developing Myanmar, Thaung Su Nyein added.
In addition, the government reforms are expected to open up Myanmar’s mobile Internet market, potentially bringing a flood of online users to Thaung Su Nyein’s publications. By 2016, Myanmar wants mobile penetration in the nation to reach between 75 and 80 percent.
“We could get tens of thousands of reader on our mobile apps,” Thaung Su Nyein said. “That’s something we are looking forward to.”
Source : PCWorld
Local developer aims to bring mobile apps to Myanmar
Htoo Myint Naung has been selling popular fortune-telling and dictionary apps in his home country
By Michael Kan | Published: 13:46, 14 June 2013
How do you build a blockbuster app in Myanmar, one of Asia's poorest countries? You go and ask a fortune teller for help, according to 25-year-old Htoo Myint Naung, a local developer.
"There's a very famous fortune teller in Yangon, he is called San Zamibo. We go and begged him to give up his contents," he said. "We licensed it, and then made an app."
Htoo Myint Naung is just one of the young tech entrepreneurs in Myanmar, a country that is now opening to the world after decades of military rule. Flooding in are investors from across the world, along with the prospect that foreign Internet firms might come in as well, and set up shop. But local developers like Htoo Myint Naung want their piece of the market too, and are doing so through their own local knowledge of the market.
"Lots of new threats" lay in waiting for his business, since Myanmar, also known as Burma, initiated its democratic reforms over two years ago, he said. "Now all the IT companies from outside will try to come inside. Maybe they will kill the locals [Myanmar's domestic companies] and then take over the market."
Currently, only about 1 percent of Myanmar's populace use the Internet, according to industry experts. But foreign Internet services are already dominating the fledgling market. Local residents say Facebook is the most popular website in the country, followed by others including Google's YouTube and Gmail.
Htoo Myint Naung, however, is also tapping into Myanmar's market through methods and ideas only a local would know about, he said.
"Most of these guys [foreign IT companies] don't event try to understand the culture," he said. "That's the problem. They don't know, for example, how big the demand is for fortune telling here."
His company, Technomation, also publishes a dictionary app that is its best seller. But rather than rely on Apple's App store or on Google Play, Htoo Myint Naung distributes his apps locally through partnerships with 200 electronic shops in the country.
Online payments have yet to take hold in Myanmar, and so Technomation's sells its products at the storefront, where consumers can pay for them with cash. His company does this through special USB sticks that electronic shops can use to install the apps on mobile phones. The shops get a cut of the sales, but pay Technomation to "refill" the USB stick after a select number of uses.
The company sells its dictionary app for the relatively high price of $10 and its fortune telling app for $3, but still consumers are willing to buy, said Thar Htet, a local tech entrepreneur at software maker Zwenexsys.
"Actually, the people have the spending power, its just that we don't have a payment gateway for online apps," he said. "Even for the other app makers across the world, they couldn't take the Burmese market. Because the local people couldn't pay for them online. So that's a good opportunity for the developers here."
The country's tech market is still small and only about 5 percent of its people use mobile phones. But many expect that to change soon with government reforms that aim to make mobile phones more affordable. By 2016, Myanmar authorities want mobile penetration to reach between 75 and 80 percent.
Htoo Myint Naung has already made his apps available for iOS, Android and Java. But to meet the demand, he also wants to open his own app store that uses a special payment system suited for local consumers.
"I'm trying to make a banking system without permission from the government," he said. "If that works out alright, my mobile sales could be ten times in two or three months."
"This is the time to forget about my 200 retailers," he added. "That's a big number in the past. But we could sell directly to the customers. That's the opportunity for me."
Source : Tech World
By Michael Kan | Published: 13:46, 14 June 2013
How do you build a blockbuster app in Myanmar, one of Asia's poorest countries? You go and ask a fortune teller for help, according to 25-year-old Htoo Myint Naung, a local developer.
"There's a very famous fortune teller in Yangon, he is called San Zamibo. We go and begged him to give up his contents," he said. "We licensed it, and then made an app."
Htoo Myint Naung is just one of the young tech entrepreneurs in Myanmar, a country that is now opening to the world after decades of military rule. Flooding in are investors from across the world, along with the prospect that foreign Internet firms might come in as well, and set up shop. But local developers like Htoo Myint Naung want their piece of the market too, and are doing so through their own local knowledge of the market.
"Lots of new threats" lay in waiting for his business, since Myanmar, also known as Burma, initiated its democratic reforms over two years ago, he said. "Now all the IT companies from outside will try to come inside. Maybe they will kill the locals [Myanmar's domestic companies] and then take over the market."
Currently, only about 1 percent of Myanmar's populace use the Internet, according to industry experts. But foreign Internet services are already dominating the fledgling market. Local residents say Facebook is the most popular website in the country, followed by others including Google's YouTube and Gmail.
Htoo Myint Naung, however, is also tapping into Myanmar's market through methods and ideas only a local would know about, he said.
"Most of these guys [foreign IT companies] don't event try to understand the culture," he said. "That's the problem. They don't know, for example, how big the demand is for fortune telling here."
His company, Technomation, also publishes a dictionary app that is its best seller. But rather than rely on Apple's App store or on Google Play, Htoo Myint Naung distributes his apps locally through partnerships with 200 electronic shops in the country.
Online payments have yet to take hold in Myanmar, and so Technomation's sells its products at the storefront, where consumers can pay for them with cash. His company does this through special USB sticks that electronic shops can use to install the apps on mobile phones. The shops get a cut of the sales, but pay Technomation to "refill" the USB stick after a select number of uses.
The company sells its dictionary app for the relatively high price of $10 and its fortune telling app for $3, but still consumers are willing to buy, said Thar Htet, a local tech entrepreneur at software maker Zwenexsys.
"Actually, the people have the spending power, its just that we don't have a payment gateway for online apps," he said. "Even for the other app makers across the world, they couldn't take the Burmese market. Because the local people couldn't pay for them online. So that's a good opportunity for the developers here."
The country's tech market is still small and only about 5 percent of its people use mobile phones. But many expect that to change soon with government reforms that aim to make mobile phones more affordable. By 2016, Myanmar authorities want mobile penetration to reach between 75 and 80 percent.
Htoo Myint Naung has already made his apps available for iOS, Android and Java. But to meet the demand, he also wants to open his own app store that uses a special payment system suited for local consumers.
"I'm trying to make a banking system without permission from the government," he said. "If that works out alright, my mobile sales could be ten times in two or three months."
"This is the time to forget about my 200 retailers," he added. "That's a big number in the past. But we could sell directly to the customers. That's the opportunity for me."
Source : Tech World
In Burma, a race to provide mobile phone service
 |
| A customer tries a smartphone at a retail outlet operated by KMD Co. in downtown… (Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg ) |
But not for long, said Thet Lynn Han, managing director of Bagan Innovation Technology, which designs applications for Burmese banks, newspapers and other companies.
When his car broke down in the countryside on a drive to Mandalay last year, the 29-year-old entrepreneur wandered into a nearby village for help and was surprised at how many people he saw on cellphones. “I came to realize that things are changing,” he said in a restaurant near his Rangoon office, as the electricity fluttered on and off and the early rains of Burma’s monsoon season came down.
Until just a few years ago, getting wireless access cost thousands of dollars in this largely offline corner of hyper-connected Asia, and the government was the only provider in town. Controlling the communications apparatus was a way for the junta to monitor its citizens and a lucrative source of revenue for favored business interests.
But along with a raft of other economic and political reforms since 2011, the government of Burma — which the former military regime renamed Myanmar — is making mobile phone access cheaper and opening its telecommunications market. As people here experiment with newfound freedom of expression and increasing access to information, nearly a dozen international wireless companies are furiously vying for the two mobile licenses that the government is auctioning off June 27.
The prize will be the right to operate in Southeast Asia’s last untapped mobile market.
“It’s the last country apart from North Korea where mobile penetration is in the single digits,” says Denis O’Brien, the Irish billionaire who owns Jamaica-based Digicel. O’Brien is pursuing a bid with financial backing from investor George Soros. “There is a huge pent-up demand in Myanmar for mobile and Internet access,” O’Brien said by phone.
The auction is shaping up to be an important test of whether Burma’s newfound economic reforms will boost the fortunes of ordinary people here, and of just how much money foreign firms are ready to sink into the country as it navigates a hugely difficult and uncertain political and economic transformation. Also up for grabs this summer are the right to build a new airport near Rangoon and scores of oil and gas production sites.
“The next three months are going to be crucial,” says Edwin Vanderbruggen, a Rangoon lawyer who works with foreign firms.
A ticket to the Internet
Reliable statistics are hard to come by in Burma — whether it’s Internet usage or the size of the population — but most experts agree that, at most, 9 percent of Burma’s nearly 60 million people have access to a mobile phone, concentrated in Rangoon and Mandalay.
The government says it wants to increase mobile-phone usage to 75 percent by 2016, and consulting firm McKinsey & Co. projects Burma will require as much as $50 billion of investment in telecom infrastructure, including the wireless towers, fiber cables and wiring that it largely lacks. Far fewer people have a land line, meaning that cellphones will be the first phone that most people own.
In a fast-opening economy that remains Asia’s poorest, a mobile phone will be most people’s ticket to the Internet. It’s a boon to development but also has a toxic side, seen in the rising use of social media to spread hate speech amid recent anti-Muslim violence in parts of this largely Buddhist country.
Cellphones are not hard to find; shops throughout Rangoon peddle scores of models, authentic and bootleg, many made in nearby China. But just a few years ago, under the government monopoly, getting mobile access cost upward of $2,500. Until early this year, the price was $250, well out of reach for most people.
Telecommunications race
President Thein Sein’s reformist government in April started releasing SIM cards costing 1,500 Burmese kyats, or about $1.60. Still, people have to enter a lottery for the limited supply of cards, many of which are being sold on the black market for as much as $90.
Meanwhile, the foreign companies are swamping local media with promised plans for charity projects they would undertake if they got a license, as well as touting their expertise in emerging markets. South African mobile giant MTN says it has raised living standards across Africa. Digicel is highlighting its role in Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and has been sponsoring a national soccer team.
Still, Britain-based Vodafone and China Mobile, two wireless behemoths that were pursuing a joint bid for a telecom license, withdrew from the running in late May, saying the conditions laid out by the government for winning the bid do not meet their “strict internal investment criteria.”
And Human Rights Watch, a New York-based nonprofit organization, warned foreign wireless companies last month that they “risk complicity in illegal surveillance, censorship, and other repression.” Among other concerns, the group said the government might violate citizens’ rights in order to secure land for wireless towers or laying cable.
Indeed, while the government no longer enforces most of the strict laws governing the media and telecommunications sectors, some of them remain on the books. The government’s telecom selection committee, however, pledged last month that it is running a “fully transparent” auction process that “follows international standards and best practices.”
Once millions more people have access to mobile phones, efforts to roll back Burma’s reforms could become more difficult, said Bagan’s Thet Lynn Han, whose company employs 50 local workers.
“By that point,” he said, “you already know the value of the Internet, the value of the press.”
Source : The Washington Post
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Myanmar web users looking online for freedom
Yangon: Kam Khan Cin travelled for four days from his remote mountaintop town to attend Myanmar's forum on web freedom as the country embraces its long-vilified netizens as part of sweeping reforms.The engineering student said he was compelled to journey to Yangon, an arduous trip made all the harder by monsoon rains that deluged the dirt roads of his native Chin state, to "find out what rights we are entitled to."
"I believe that we will get those rights one day," he said.
Most residents in his hometown of Tedim cannot afford mobile phones, but there are three Internet cafes and Kam Khan Cin perseveres to get online -- even though it often takes 15 minutes to load a page.
"I can see what is happening in other places through the Internet. I feel connected with the world," the 25-year-old told AFP.
Sanctions and economic mismanagement under decades of military rule left Myanmar impoverished and cut off from the world, an isolation deepened by a system of online repression imposed by the paranoid generals.
Less than one percent of the country's population have access to the Internet and for those that do, unreliable electricity supplies and painfully slow connection speeds often make websurfing an excruciating experience.
But web users say the curtain is lifting.
Former political prisoners and activists mingled with politicians and government officials at Myanmar Internet Freedom Forum on Saturday all eager to hear debates on everything from censorship to cyber law.
"The system has changed -- instead of the government giving out commands, it listens to the voices of the people. We want to know what we can do to create the Internet freedom that people want," said information technology deputy minister Thaung Tin.
He outlined a vision of fast, cheap and widely-available web access that would have been unthinkable under the previous regime, which banned websites like the BBC and criminalised online dissent.
Government ministers from a new quasi-civilian regime now use Facebook -- once only accessible through proxy sites -- as their preferred medium to make announcements and quote the BBC and formerly-prohibited exile media groups.
Thaung Tin said Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Intel have all held discussions with the government about boosting web access in the country, as global firms eye what is now seen as one of Asia's last untapped technology markets.
But hurdles remain, despite international interest in the fast-changing nation.
"I told Microsoft that we want to use their licensed software in our country rather than pirated copies," he said adding that he had asked the firm to provide it for a "reasonable" price.
"They asked me how much is reasonable for us. I answered: 'Honestly, anything more than FOC (free of charge) is expensive'."
Under the former regime connections were slowed down on politically significant dates, such as the August 8 anniversary of a mass political uprising in 1988.
Myanmar's citizens used the web to leak extensive accounts and video of bloodshed during monk-led protests in 2007 to the outside world, prompting the regime to tighten its control of the Internet.
The country was still listed as "not free" in 2012 by rights group Freedom House, which sponsored the Yangon conference.
Myanmar's reforms have included scrapping a harsh censorship that muzzled the media, releasing political prisoners and unblocking news sites.
A report published by international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders in December said Internet cafe owners were no longer getting police visits.
But it noted that repressive laws -- under which journalists, bloggers and dissidents were previously jailed -- had yet to be dismantled.
They include the Electronic Transaction Law, which makes using the Internet or digital technology for anti-government activities punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
"Freedom is not only measured by being able to look at websites freely, bandwidth and Internet speed should also be in line with international standards," said blogger and activist Nay Phone Latt, who was behind the Yangon forum.
He told AFP that the proliferation of hate speech online during religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims that has swept the country since last year was a concern, particularly as MPs recently set up an entire committee to expose a blogger critical of parliament.
On a visit to Myanmar in March, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said the Internet would make it "impossible to go back".
His vision appears to have been enthusiastically embraced by at least some of Myanmar's new leaders.
Thaung Tin told the Internet conference that he imagines a Myanmar where rural children, instead of being hampered by electricity blackouts, are able to use tablet computers to search online for help with their schoolwork.
"How pleasant is it when you close your eyes and think about it!" he said.
"Nothing is impossible any longer."