Digicel Group has teamed up with YSH Finance and First Myanmar Investment Co under the Digicel Asian Holdings consortium for an infrastructure agreement with Ooredoo Myanmar.
Ooredoo, the Qatar-based operator, was one of two foreign companies to win a…
Digicel Group has teamed up with YSH Finance and First Myanmar Investment Co under the Digicel Asian Holdings consortium for an infrastructure agreement with Ooredoo Myanmar.
Ooredoo, the Qatar-based operator, was one of two foreign companies to win a telecoms licence in Myanmar. The country recently opened up after decades of isolationism.
The agreement announced this week will see Digicel Asian Holdings create Myanmar Tower Company for the construction and lease of towers in partnership with Ooredoo.
The towers will have multiple tenants to “help all telecommunications operating companies achieve their aims of rapidly deploying telecommunications coverage across the country”, according to a statement.
Digicel chairman Denis O’Brien added: “We are delighted to work with Ooredoo to help develop a high quality telecommunications network across the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, contribute to the growth of the Myanmar economy and benefit Myanmar citizens across all of the country’s states, regions, and union territories.”
Digicel missed out on a telecoms licence during a hotly-contested auction this summer, during which Ooredoo and Norway’s Telenor emerged as the two winners.
Rollout obligations for both companies include a requirement to achieve at least 75% geographic coverage for each region and state for voice services within five years.
Telenor open to infrastructure sharing
Asked whether Telenor could join the agreement, a spokesperson for the telco said it is open to infrastructure sharing in Myanmar and that collaborating with Ooredoo is one of the options.
Telenor would be able to confirm any such arrangements “following the finalisation of the licensing process,” he added.
Originally expected to be awarded in September, the licence is set to be granted this December instead, reportedly because of delays linked to the on-going parliamentary debate over the country’s new telecoms law.
In October, Ooredoo had said that given the green-field nature of the project, the company was looking to build the networks in partnership with Telenor.
More recently, French telco Orange said it would be eager to partner with state-owned Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) to help develop telecommunications in the country, if invited to do so. Orange was the runner-up in the licence auction.
