Ooredoo and Telenor have emerged as the winners of Myanmar’s two available mobile licences. The licences were hotly contested as Myanmar is an underdeveloped market that could see a boom in mobile growth.
The agreements have not yet been signed and are subject to a number of post-tender requirements. Should either operator wish to decline due to this, there is a third back-up option – an alliance between Orange and Japanese operator Marubeni.
The licences are valid for a 15-year period. The terms will be finalised by September, but the operators are already obliged to provide low price offerings as well as share infrastructure.
Mark Newman, Chief Research Officer at Informa, described the Qatari and Norwegian firms as “two of the most ambitious and aggressive investors in the Asian telecoms sector”, adding that their “experience in [Asia] and their ability to maintain viable businesses while offering extremely competitive prices will have been crucially important in the government’s decision to award them the licenses.”
