MTN talks up Myanmar prospects

MTN has initiated an awareness campaign in Myanmar, boasting the company’s achievements and track record to fuel its bid for one of two telecommunication licenses in the country.

MTN has already been pre-qualified for the license bid, along with 11 other global operators, including Bharti Airtel, France’s Orange Telecom and a Vodafone/China Mobile consortium.

The bid for Myanmar’s telecom licenses initially drew interest from 90 parties due to the country’s attractive opportunity by virtue of its population (60 million) and low mobile penetration rate (approximately 5%).

MTN has previously said that its strength as a mobile operator in an emerging market, such as Myanmar, is its contribution to job creation.

MTN’s prospects

MTN is one of the world’s largest mobile operators, with nearly 200 million subscribers across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The operator has a market capitalisation of $US36 billion, annual revenues of $US18 billion and, according to the group, is a market leader in 70% of the 22 countries in which it operates.

Serame Taukobong, MTN Executive, said the operator is committed to rolling out a nationwide world-class network in Myanmar, providing high-quality voice and super-fast data communication, Internet services, mobile money and other industry-specific services.

“We are confident that our demonstrable track record will place MTN in good stead to be awarded one of Myanmar’s two telecommunications licences,” said Taukobong.

He said MTN’s experience in operating in some of the world’s most difficult terrains would facilitate rapid rollout across all of Myanmar’s regions.

“One of our most recent network infrastructure roll-out achievements was in Nigeria – Africa’s most populous nation with more than 161 million people – where we brought 1,414 2G and 1,175 3G sites on line during 2012 alone.”

“During the same year, MTN Nigeria added 5.8 million subscribers and recorded 4 million active 3G devices on its network,” Taukobong said.

“We look forward with great enthusiasm to bring our expertise to Myanmar,” the executive said.

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