A US$15 SIM card for mobile phones is on the way – but only for foreigners.
The
three-month cards will be on the market from June 2013 in the run-up to
the Southeast Asian Games, said U Htay Win, chief engineer of the
Department of Mobile Communications at Myanma Post and
Telecommunications (MPT) on Monday, November 19.
The low-price
cards will be on sale at airport information counters and sports
villages to international athletes arriving for the games, said U Htay
Win.
Speaking in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, he said: “We will sell the
card for only $15 like other international low-priced SIM cards. But
the mobile SIM cards are meant for international athletes rather than
local users.”
MPT does intend to sell cheaper SIM cards to the public before Myanmar assumes the ASEAN chairmanship in 2014, U Htay Win said.
“We
will continue to cut mobile prices so that more and more people can use
them. But we can’t reduce the price immediately because the country’s
mobile network can only support about four million to six million
mobiles,” said U Htay Win. “We have to balance market demand and supply
in numbers we can support.”
He said there were more than three million mobile phone users in Myanmar, or about 7.8 percent of the country’s population.
SIM
card prices and mobile phone charges are high in Myanmar compared with
other ASEAN countries, which have greatly expanded their mobile phone
markets with the use of prepaid cards.
U Htay Win said a draft communications law bringing in lower charges was being discussed in hluttaw.
“I
think two or three mobile operators will appear next year if the law is
approved during the next hluttaw session,” said U Htay Win.
“The
mobile price will decrease somewhat as the communications market
becomes more competitive after the law is approved,” he said, adding
that many foreign communications companies had expressed interest in
investing in Myanmar, and some might be granted a licence to operate
before the end of next year.
“We expect to be able to cut prices before 2015 or 2016,” said U Htay Win.
He
attributed the current high charges to contracts signed with foreign
countries for five years, which would have to expire before charges
could fall. MPT charges $0.98 a minute.
It also emerged that next month MPT will charge for internet services by data volume instead of by the minute.
U
Thaung Su Nyein, chief executive of Information Matrix IT, said he
hoped the government would expand mobile usage to the entire population
at a lower price.
“I think cheap SIM cards will succeed in the
private sector as market strategies develop. But the current network can
barely support the three million users we have, which is a big weak
point,” he said.
“This won’t look good when Myanmar hosts the SEA
games and becomes the ASEAN chairman, and it will also deter potential
foreign investors,” said U Thaung Su Nyein.
source: The Myanmar Times
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