Telenor Group to invest $1 billion in Myanmar

Norway’s Telenor Group has embarked on a $1-billion investment in Myanmar to provide 90 per cent of the population access to mobile coverage, a media report said on Saturday.

“We expect to break even within four years,” Sigve Brekkle, head of Telenor Asia, told the Bangkok Post.

Qatari firm Ooredoo and Telenor were the winners of 15-year licences in bids last year for mobile services in Myanmar, which currently has about 4-5 million mobile phones for a population of 60 million.

In the first phase of Telenor’s investment plan for Myanmar, it intends to launch second-generation and third-generation services to parts of the country by the second half of this year, Brekkle said.

It plans to provide a cellular network for 90 per cent of the population within five years, the Bangkok Post said.

Telenor currently provides mobile phone services to 13 countries worldwide, six of which are in Asia.

In Thailand it is the major shareholder in Total Access Communications, which claimed 30 per cent of the mobile market last year.

source: The Hindu Business Line

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/international/telenor-group-to-invest-1-billion-in-myanmar/article5763787.ece