Jan 30 2014
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Thursday, Jan 30, 2014
By Sven Grundberg
STOCKHOLM--Norway's Telenor ASA (TEL.OS) and Qatar's
Ooredoo
QSC (ORDS.DO) have accepted licenses to offer mobile communications in Myanmar, in a sign that the country's economic reforms are attracting foreign investors.
Telenor Thursday said it has been granted a license for spectrum in the 900 megahertz and 2.1 gigahertz bands in Myanmar. Within eight months Telenor, which also has operations in neighboring Thailand, plans to be able to offer telecom services in the country, it added.
Telenor will compete in Myanmar against
Ooredoo
, a Qatar-based telecom operator with operations in several developing markets, which separately on Thursday also said it had accepted a license to operate in the country.
Just a tenth of Myanmar's 60 million population have access to mobile services, and the country hasn't had a mobile data network. Both Telenor and Oredoo plan to roll out third-generation data networks across the country.
Telenor's network should cover 90% of the country's population in five years, and the company will increase its workforce in the country by some 1,000 people this year, from around 150 employees currently.
The Norwegian company said it spent $500 million acquiring the license fee and sees its total investment in Myanmar at $1 billion, before the expansion reaches cash flow break-even. It aims to reach break even before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in three years from now.
The International Monetary Fund earlier this month said it continues to be optimistic about growth potential in Myanmar, although it expressed caution about high inflation.
Write to Sven Grundberg at sven.grundberg@wsj.com; Twitter: @svengrundberg
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
30-01-14 1341GMT
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Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/01/31/telenor-ooredoo-accept-myanmar-telecom-licenses/
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