While Ooredoo SIM cards officially went on sale last week at K1500 per card, consumers in Yangon and Mandalay have reported that a black market selling cards at inflated rates has already sprung up.

 

From The Myanmar Times, by Aung Kyaw Nyunt  

 

A monk purchases an Ooredoo card from a Yangon mobile shop. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing

 

Reports from Yangon and Mandalay indicate that the average price for SIMs is K5000, with some going as high as K40,000.

 

However, representatives from Ooredoo remain confident that by the end of the month, when their SIMs will be available in any of the company’s 6000 retailers nationwide, the black market will “disappear”.

 

So far, the SIMs have only had a limited release in Yangon, Mandalay, and Nay Pyi Taw, with the larger launch coming at the end of August.

 

“We will try to make the black market disappear this month … We’ll make sure there’s an equal balance of supply and demand,” said U Myint Zaw, a spokesperson for Ooredoo.

 

Read the full report here:  Black market persists for Ooredoo SIMs

 

No..... Monks don't need a phone surely... lol.

 

We have them buying cars and the best one i have seen was one in a Dagon center buying a ladies handbag.

 

I have spoken to a few people with the SIM cards and they say the quality and coverage is very poor but it is expected for the next few mths. 

All the shops near us have Ooredoo SIM's in stock and they're all for sale for Ks1,500. No idea where they got their information from that the average price is Ks5,000.

 

I suspect that they're referring to "auspicious" telephone numbers which some of the less scrupulous dealers are selling for Ks5,000 up to Ks60,000 depending on how lucky the numbers are.

 

I had a play with mine on Sunday, still couldn't make any calls or send any texts. Managed to get connected to the internet though (so I must have some signal?), but it was terribly slow, it took around 2 minutes for a webpage to load.