Airtel bids for licenses in Myanmar

Airtel, Telenor, Axiata, and St Telemedia have submitted bids for telecommunications service licenses in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Recently, the government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar has invited expression of interest (EoI) for two telecom service licenses in the country.

The Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar has also laid down the policy framework for the development of the country's telecommunications and ICT industry by facilitating competition of both local and international operators in the sector. The main goals are to increase the overall tele-density of the country to 75-80 percent by 2015-2016, to make the telecommunications services available to the public at affordable prices in both urban and rural areas, and to give the citizens and the enterprises the capability to choose their telecommunications services. The development of a strong local ICT eco-system for both public and private users is also part of the Union Government's objectives, in order to foster the overall economic development.

In support of this policy framework and objectives, the Union Government intends to award two nationwide telecommunications service licences by the end of the first half of 2013 in accordance with the guidelines that have been set out to be included in the new Telecommunications Law which will soon be promulgated.

 

The basic terms and conditions for the new licenses are: Technology neutrality; spectrum available across multiple frequency bands; initial license term will range between 10 to 20 years with the possibility of renewal; meet or exceed specified population and geographic coverage targets; reasonable tariffs and low initial registration fees in order to facilitate the Union Government's accessibility and tele-density targets; both new and existing licensees will be expected to enter into infrastructure and facilities sharing arrangements in order to achieve rapid and cost efficient network deployment; and licenses will be awarded via a comparative evaluation process.

Airtel, Telenor, Axiata, and St Telemedia have submitted their expression of interest (EoI) be on January 25th, 2013 to the telecommunication operator tender evaluation and selection committee.

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar is the second largest country in South-East Asia with a land surface of 653,508 square km. The Union is delineated and constituted by seven state/regions: Kachin State, Kayah State, Kayin State, Chin State, Sagaing Region, Taninthayi Region, Bago Region, Magway Region, Mandalay Region, Mon State, Rakhine State, Yangon Region, Shan State, Ayeyawady Region and Union territories.

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar is the fifth most populous country in South-East Asia, with an estimated population of 59.78 million in 2010. The annual population growth rate during recent years (2000-2011) has been in the range of 1.3-2 percent. Approximately 31 percent of The Republic of the Union of Myanmar's population resides in urban areas in 2010 and 11 percent live in agglomerations of more than one million.

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar has both GSM (900 MHz, launched in 2002) and CDMA networks (800 MHz and 450 MHz launched respectively in 1999 and 2008). In 2008,

3G (WCDMA 2100 MHz) was also introduced. According to official data, as of end of December 2012, the current mobile base is 5.44 million subscribers or 9 percent penetration. 3.62 million or 67 percent of mobile subscribers are using GSM, 0.74 million or 14 percent are using WCDMA, 1.1 million or 20 percent are using CDMA (mobile). Mobile subscribers growth rate has accelerated in the past 2 years.

 

Myanmar's mobile penetration is low when compared to its neighbours be it: 70 percent in Cambodia, 87 percent in Lao PDR and over 100 percent in Thailand in 2011.

Yangon (1.795 million subscribers) and Mandalay (0.860 million subscribers) are two largest urban regions with highest number of mobile subscribers.