mobile industry in asia: myanmar opening up in the digital age

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Mobile Industry in Asia: Myanmar opening up in the digital age amgoo.com /blog/mobile-industry-in-asia-myanmar-opening-up-in-the-digital-age Oct 7, 2014 7:00:00 AM Opening up to the digital world Myanmar's mobile industry and the immense growth thereof is a story of a modern age opening up to the digital world, to all of its opportunities, and to all of its challenges! Its industry has come a long way since military rule ended in 2011, with its now quasi-civilian government pushing for wider reforms and sustained growth. To think that sim cards were available for $5000 on the black market when mobile was first introduced by state-run operator MPT in 2000 is ridiculous compared to where Myanmar is today. The prices have dropped significantly in recent years with a sim card currently costing $1.50, making the promise of mobile more accessible to its considerable population. However, even with this price drop the mobile penetration rate in this country of 51.4 million is at just 10% according to MPT. This being said, the room for growth in the telecommunications sector is huge and it is an industry that is catching the attention of international investors and mobile operators the world over! Change is coming

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Page 1: Mobile industry in Asia: Myanmar opening up in the digital age

Mobile Industry in Asia: Myanmar opening up in thedigital age

amgoo.com /blog/mobile-industry-in-asia-myanmar-opening-up-in-the-digital-age

Oct 7, 2014 7:00:00 AM

Opening up to the digital world

Myanmar's mobile industry and the immense growth thereof is a story of a modern age opening up tothe digital world, to all of its opportunities, and to all of its challenges! Its industry has come a long waysince military rule ended in 2011, with its now quasi-civilian government pushing for wider reforms andsustained growth. To think that sim cards were available for $5000 on the black market when mobilewas first introduced by state-run operator MPT in 2000 is ridiculous compared to where Myanmar istoday. The prices have dropped significantly in recent years with a sim card currently costing $1.50,making the promise of mobile more accessible to its considerable population. However, even with thisprice drop the mobile penetration rate in this country of 51.4 million is at just 10% according to MPT.This being said, the room for growth in the telecommunications sector is huge and it is an industry thatis catching the attention of international investors and mobile operators the world over!

Change is coming

Page 2: Mobile industry in Asia: Myanmar opening up in the digital age

In a bid to open up its doors to further investment and catapult its populace into the digital age, theCommunications Ministry invited Qatar-based Ooredoo and Norway's Telenor to become the firstwholly foreign-owned operators. As part of the mobile industry in Asia, the once isolated nation becameits fastest growing mobile market in the space of a few short months after being virtually non-existentto the West, and the two foreign-owned operators are pledging massive investment in mobileinfrastructure and telecommunications services!

Unprecedented growth in the mobile sector

With Norway's Telenor set to launch its services at the end of this month, Qatar's Ooredoo has alreadyacquired 1 million subscribers within a month of launching. It plans to invest $15bn over the its 15 yearlicence and hopes to reach 97% of the population over the next 5 years. Stae-run MPT has partneredup with Japan's second-largest wireless carrier KDDI Corp and Sumitomo Corp in July, and they havepromised to invest about $2bn to expand the system. Mobile penetration is also expected to increase toa whopping 85% during the 2015-16 fiscal year according to MPT.

Social media revolution

Page 3: Mobile industry in Asia: Myanmar opening up in the digital age

Increased mobile usage this year has lead to a rapid uptake in social media and many of itsapplications and it has helped OTT messaging app Viber to become the most successful application inthe country, adding an extra 3 million users in 5 months to total 5 million in July. However, this suddenopening up of information and the adoption of social media as a platform for freedom of speech has ledto religious clashes in the nation that has put a bit of a dampener on the progress made in the mobileindustry. The sudden growth of the industry and mobile users means there is no legal framework inplace to combat this type of thing on social media. The government is looking at implementing internetand media controls where necessary and hopefully laws can be passed to prevent this sort of thinghappening again!

Where to from here for operators?

Apart from the challenges that the government is facing in this wave of growth, looking back to where itall started, Myanmar's mobile industry is definitely on the right track. For operators the biggestchallenge aside from setting up the adequate infrastructure needed to connect the masses is the factthat most of the population can't afford a smartphone. With average income at less than $100 a monthfacilitating continued upward growth in this mobile market means operators need to look at investing inintroducing low cost smartphones to the market, educate consumers on smartphones and its manyuses as well as provide them with affordable data bundles and plans that suit their specific needs! Withall this in place and continued support from the government, the mobile market and the operators thatservice it will be well on the way to truly establishing Myanmar as a true mobile player!

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