NAME: Saurabh Mishra

ROLL No: 15-M-449

Telecom Business in Myanmar

Myanmar officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is
a sovereign state in South East Asia bordered
by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. About one third of Myanmar's total
perimeter of 5,876 km (3,651 miles), forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km (1,200
miles) along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The country's 2014 census revealed a
much lower population than expected, with 51 million people recorded. Myanmar is
676,578 square kilometres (261,227 sq mi) in size. Its capital city is Naypyidaw and its
largest city is Yangon (Rangoon).

A. Political Environment :

Myanmar has open political environment. Myanmar is democratic country. The November
2015 elections were the first nationwide, multiparty elections since the countrys parliament
first convened in 2010, and were widely considered Myanmars most free and fair polls in
twenty-five years. Approximately 80 percent of the countrys thirty million eligible voters
cast ballots in November 2015, and Aung San Suu Kyis opposition NLD party won
a landslide victory, securing a majority in the upper and lower houses of parliament. In
March 2016 the new parliament elected Htin Kyaw, a longtime confidant of Aung San Suu
Kyi, as Myanmars first civilian leader in decades, with the runners-up, military candidate
Myint Swe and ethnic Chin nominee Henry Van Thio chosen as the first and second vice
presidents. After winning 360 of 652 votes, Htin Kyaw, who is expected to act as proxy for
Aung San Suu Kyi, said, This is a victory for the people of this country.

Still, the new government will have difficulty addressing Myanmars core challenge of
managing its geographically fractured and ethnically diverse border areas because
constitutionally, the NLD cannot control the military, according to geopolitical intelligence
firm Stratfor. CFRs Kurlantzick writes that if the opposition moves too quickly to try to
dilute the armys influence, there many be major roadblocks to implementing a broader
cease-fire agreement with insurgents, altering the constitution, and gradually
imposing civilian control over the armed forces.
B. Economic Environment:

Myanmar is growing robustly, but the acceleration in 2016 was likely not as strong as had
been expected early last year. Despite the first democratic government in over 50 years taking
office in March last year and U.S. economic sanctions being lifted in October, the country has
failed keep up its rapid pace of expansion. The new government has disappointed
international investors especially, as it lacks transparent economic policies. In H2, FDI
inflows reduced substantially and the ripple effects started to be felt, with the PMI readings
showing deteriorating business conditions.

Indices of myanmars economies are as follows,

Sr. No. Indices Figure

1 $62.60 Billion
GDP
2 53.9 Million
Population
3 1308.70 USD
Per Capita Income
4 49.4
Productivity
5 $111 billions
Purchasing Power Parity
6 9.25%
Interest Rates
7 -1128 USD million
Cash flow
8 10.89%
Inflation (PPI, annual variation in %)
9 5.20%
Unemployment rate
10 1%
Industrial Production (Annual
variation)
C. Legal Environment for telecom industry

With one of the lowest wireless penetration rates in the world , Myanmars
telecommunications sector is positioned to witness robust growth in the coming decade.

According to the World Bank, just 10.3 out of every 100 people in Myanmar have mobile
cellular subscriptions. That is staggeringly low when compared to every other country in the
region, for example neighboring Thailand, where there are 125 mobile cellular subscriptions
for every 100 people.

The lack of connectivity is due to a lack of infrastructure, but also in large part to the state-
owned Myanmar Post and Telecommunications agencys monopoly on telecommunications
service provision, which has pegged prices especially for mobile SIM cards at
exorbitant, unattainable levels for the vast majority of citizens in a country where poverty
levels still hover around 25 percent.

As Myanmar has over the past few years moved to open its economy to foreign investment
and allow market forces to determine prices on mobile equipment and services, private
companies and investors have jostled for position. That is true across the board, with private
investors crowding in to be among the first to make their mark on a largely untapped
economy in a wide variety of sectors, from agriculture to mining to manufacturing.
Telecommunications firms have been near the front of that push, and the ICT sector could be
one of the most lucrative and transformative for the countrys economy.

In order to spur that investment and ultimately reduce the price of mobile communications for
its citizens, the government issued a licensing tender and passed a new telecommunications
law last year.

Telecommunication Law Issues:

1. Services covered by the Telecommunications Law:

The scope of services covered by the law is broad as like bellowing; -

 The provision of operation of infrastructure or network facilities.

The provision of service for transmission and reception of information.

The provision of services by the way of transmitting and receiving.

2. Application Process for a Service License

The telecommunications law applies to both local and foreign licenses. There are
however slightly different rules applying to each.

Local and foreign applicants need to apply for a telecommunications service licence
with the Telecommunications Department of MICT

The Telecommunications Department will review the application and submit its
recommendation to MICT (for local applicant) or Union Government of Myanmar
(for foreign applicant)

Upon approval, the Telecommunications Department will issue a service licence with
a validity period of 5 to 20 years; subject to reapproval by MICT upon reapplication -
Providing a telecommunications service without a licence can lead to imprisonment of
up to 5 years and fine with no statutory limit.

3. Telecommunications Equipment Regulations

4. Terms and Conditions for the License

5. Interconnection Regulations

6. Price Regulations and Competition Policy

Competition policy is an essence of telecommunication law. A policy framework to establish,

foster and maintain competition is critical to the delivery of benefits expected and demanded
by consumers. Liberalization is also key function of telecommunication law. It is
recommended that the government should separate the operational activities from the policy
and regulatory activities of the telecommunications sector.

D. Socio Cultural Issues:

Human right violations

Impact on traditional society and business

 Environmental Issues

Cultural Exploitation

Symbolic support of regime

Biblography:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/myanmar/indicators

https://www.devex.com/news/is-myanmar-ready-for-a-telecommunications-
revolution-83498

http://asehl.org/vol6_2016/5.pdf

https://prezi.com/cdeeugstqokc/socio-cultural-issues-in-myanmarburma/

http://www.focus-economics.com/countries/myanmar

http://www.dica.gov.mm/en/why-invest-myanmar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Myanmar

http://www.indexmundi.com/burma/gdp_(purchasing_power_parity).html