Telecoms and Banks lead Myanmar reform push

[SeaVisionBurma]

The economic modernisation of Myanmar continues at a rapid clip. In the critical sectors of telecommunications and banking, a combination of government and private sector efforts have set the foundation for the country’s next stage of growth. Nevertheless, significant challenges lie ahead.

From the Financial Times, by Dan Gallucci

Earlier this month Qatari telecom Ooredoo (ORDS:DSM), launched mobile phone and 3G internet services in greater Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw. According to the company, the initial networks reach 7.8m people, about 15 per cent of the population. Norway’s Telenor (TEL:OSL) will open similar coverage in September.

The Myanmar government awarded both companies with nationwide telecom licenses last year following a highly competitive tender process that received widespread praise for its transparency. Meanwhile, state-owned enterprise (SOE) Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) has announced a $2bn upgrade to its own mobile network, in partnership with Japan’s KDDI (9433:TYO) and backed by Sumitomo Corporation (8053:TYO).

The telecoms are bringing both mobile phone and internet services to many in Myanmar for the first time. The latter is especially significant as private internet access remains very uncommon: in a poll of urban Burmese conducted by Asean Confidential in late 2013, just 55 per cent of respondents answered that they regularly access the internet from home—despite the fact that the poll was conducted online. As millions of Burmese get connected, e-commerce and mobile banking will become more viable, to say nothing of the social and political implications of access to information and social networks.

Read the full article here: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2014/08/18/telecoms-and-banks-lead-myanmar-reform-push/

[IsaanUSA]

The latter is especially significant as private internet access remains very uncommon: in a poll of urban Burmese conducted by Asean Confidential in late 2013, just 55 per cent of respondents answered that they regularly access the internet from home—despite the fact that the poll was conducted online.

Uncommon? It's only uncommon for people that regularly access the internet from home.

Mobile internet usage has been gaining all over the world. I thought I read that in Japan, they also uncommonly use the internet on their mobile phones more than at home. There's a whole wiki page dedicated to Japanese mobile phone culture, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_mobile_phone_culture.

When I was in Myanmar, the tea shops were full of people using the wifi to go online on their phones.

[Johpa]

There is a push, at least from some in Burma and within the Burmese diaspora, to develop a cell phone banking system similar to the M-Pesa system used in Kenya.