Further details have emerged from Myanmar regarding the government’s plan to open up the country’s telecoms sector, local news source The Myanmar Times reports. State-owned service provider Myanmar Posts and Telecommunication (MPT) is to be dismantled, with its telecoms operations hived off into a new entity, Myanmar Telecom, which will operate without funding from the government. The country’s only other telco, Yatanarpon Teleport, will become Yatanarpon Telecom, while licences will be offered to two entirely new operators, with foreign operators eligible to bid. All four of the country’s operators will then be allowed to offer fixed line, mobile, internet and data communications services.
The government will open an international tender for the new licences in late-2012/early-2013, with full competition expected to be introduced before the end of next year. An official from MPT said: ‘The existing telecom sector in Myanmar is a centralised operating system, which means the public relies on a single operator. We are trying to establish a customer-focused telecommunications system that offers a choice of operators.’