Eleven parties will compete in Myanmar’s auction of two telecoms licences at the end of the month.
All pre-qualified applicants, apart from the Vodafone/China Mobile consortium, have qualified to take part in the final stage of the tender process, the…
Eleven parties will compete in Myanmar’s auction of two telecoms licences at the end of the month.
All pre-qualified applicants, apart from the Vodafone/China Mobile consortium, have qualified to take part in the final stage of the tender process, the Myanmar government announced.
Myanmar expects to announce the winners of its two nationwide 15-year licences on 27 June.
Last week, Britain’s Vodafone and China Mobile announced their withdrawal from the auction, citing a discrepancy between the conditions set by the government and their criteria for investment.
The British and Chinese operators formed a consortium to bid for some spectrum in early April and were later shortlisted to take part in the auction.
The 11 parties now able to bid are: a consortium led by KDDI; Ooredoo; Millicom; a France Telecom-led consortium; Axiata; a Bharti Airtel-led consortium; Telenor; a consortium led by Digicel; an MTN-led consortium; Viettel; and a SingTel-led consortium.
A source working for one of the bidding parties on the process suggested that KDDI, Axiata, MTN, Viettel and France Telecom are seen as frontrunners.
Commenting on its application, MTN said that it “believes in the enormous promise of Myanmar, a country fast emerging from years of sanctions.”
The company’s CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa, added: “As we have underlined in our licence application, we combine unique experience of both developed and emerging markets.”
Meanwhile, Digicel said that its consortium has “committed to launching its 4G mobile phone network nationwide across rural and urban Myanmar on 1 December 2013 […]. The consortium has also committed to reaching 96% population coverage by the end of 2015.”
Digicel stressed than it plans to invest almost US$9bn in a mobile phone network, including US$6.6bn directly invested in Myanmar.
Myanmar has recently moved away from decades of isolationist policies and is now opening up to foreign investors.
With a population of around 60 million and mobile penetration below 10%, investment opportunities are promising. However, a banking source recently commented that new entrants might face hurdles, particularly as the country currently does not have a telecom law.
