Myanmar has awarded its two hotly-contested nationwide telecoms licences to Norway’s Telenor Mobile Communications and Qatar’s Ooredoo.
A consortium consisting of France Telecom-Orange and Marubeni Corporation has been chosen as the “back-up…
Myanmar has awarded its two hotly-contested nationwide telecoms licences to Norway’s Telenor Mobile Communications and Qatar’s Ooredoo.
A consortium consisting of France Telecom-Orange and Marubeni Corporation has been chosen as the “back-up applicant”, meaning it may step in if Telenor or Ooredoo do not fulfil post-selection requirements.
The announcement came as a surprise to some given the lower house of the nation’s parliament decided yesterday to postpone awarding the licences, reportedly until a new telecoms law, currently in the drafting stage, is finalised.
In its statement today, the selection committee said the government will now begin the process of granting the telecoms and associated spectrum licences to the successful candidates.
Before this can happen, Telenor and Ooredoo must fulfil post-selection requirements set out in the invitation to tender. These include officially accepting the licences.
The licences are expected to be awarded in accordance with the new telecoms law, which the selection committee said parliament is expected to adopt in its current session.
Binding commitments
The committee noted that, as successful applicants, Telenor and Ooredoo have made binding commitments on the launch and roll-out of services. These include a requirement to achieve at least 75% geographic coverage for each region and state for voice services within five years.
Commenting on the news, Telenor Group president and CEO Jon Fredrik said: “Myanmar will be an important pillar in our growth strategy and we are fully committed to responsibly leverage our group competencies to provide access to mobile communications services for the people of Myanmar.
“We now look forward to working with the authorities in Myanmar on the final steps in the licence process.”
Telenor plans to build a mobile network using HSPA and LTE-ready technologies for Myanmar which it says will equal leading networks worldwide. The Oslo-based operator, which has established operations in five Asian markets, aims to provide nationwide coverage in Myanmar within five years. It expects to officially launch a full range of mobile services in 2014.
Telenor noted that, as prescribed, it will now enter into final discussions with Myanmar authorities and aims to acquire the telecoms licence within the “coming months”.
The announcement of the winners of the tender has been highly anticipated. Following a pre-qualification process, eleven parties were allowed to compete in the tender, including Ooredoo, Millicom, France Telecom, Bharti, Telenor, Digicel, and others.
