MTN has missed out on one of the two lucrative telecommunications licences up for grabs in Myanmar.Norwegian operator Telenor announced that it had been declared a
successful applicant for a nationwide telecommunications licence in
Myanmar, along with Qatari firm Qtel (Ooredoo).
Eleven foreign companies were short-listed in their bid to supply
telecommunications infrastructure in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
These included: Singapore Telecommunications, KDDI Corp, Digicel, Axiata, Bharti Airtel, MTN, Vietnam’s Viettel, Orange and Millicom International Cellular.
Myanmar is one of the world’s last telecoms frontiers, with only 9%
of its 60 million people at most having mobile phones. But faced with
big investments and uncertain returns, some bidders dropped out of the
auction including Vodafone Group and China Mobile who said it did not meet their “internal investment criteria.”.
In a statement released today (27 June 2013), MTN expressed
disappointed in missing out on the opportunity to operate a
telecommunications network in Myanmar.
This followed the announcement today of two successful bidders for
operating licences by the country’s Telecommunications Operator Tender
Evaluation and Selection Committee.
The MTN Consortium, which included Myanmar-based Amara Communications
and M1 Telecom Limited, was part of the highly competitive bid process
involving 11 other international operators.
“In keeping with our strategy to continue exploring and evaluating
suitable opportunities for further growth in developing countries, MTN
still considers Myanmar an attractive market,” the operator said.
“To this end, we will review other options as they become available,
and make a decision after the appropriate due consideration.”
Telenor boasts 148 million mobile subscriptions with operations in 11
markets and in 18 additional markets through its ownership in
VimpelCom.
The government has said it will finalise the 15-year licences by
September and operators will need to launch services within nine months.
source: Business Tech
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