The selection committee has invited Airtel and 11 other international
operators to participate in the third and final stage of the licence
award process.
Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel had put in a bid to acquire fresh
licence in Myanmar to spread its footprint in Asia. Airtel is already
operational in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Geographical coverage
For Airtel, Myanmar makes logical sense given the geographical coverage
it has in the region. The Indian company’s bids may cheer Indian
Government agencies which have been concerned about the growing clout of
Chinese players in the region. But it’s going to be a tough market for
the Indian player given that no foreign operator has ever been allowed
into Myanmar before.
However, Airtel could replicate the low-cost business model which it has
successfully adopted in the Indian market over the past 15 years.
Despite having a population of about 60 million people, Myanmar only has
around 1.5 million mobile phone subscribers. The number of Internet
users is also paltry, at about 1.1 lakh.
Myanmar is offering two licences to expand telecom coverage to as much
as 80 per cent of the country by 2016, the Myanmar government had said
on January 17 when inviting foreign companies to submit bids. The
country’s 5.44 million mobile-phone subscribers as of last month
amounted to just 9 per cent penetration rate.
The licences will be issued by June and may last as long as 20 years with an option for renewal.
Airtel could still lose out because there are 12 applicants shortlisted
by the Myanmar Government and only two will be selected. Vodafone,
Telenor, SingTel and China Mobile are among those which have been
shortlisted. The expression of interest floated by Myanmar for two
telecom licences received application from 91 companies.
“The third and final stage of the licence award process will now start
for the pre-qualified applicants. The pre-qualified applicants will be
required to submit their applications to the Committee by June 3,” the
statement from Myanmar Government said.
The winner of the Myanmar telecom licences will be declared on June 27 “based on the comparative evaluation method”.
Airtel has stated in the past that the 3G intra-circle roaming
arrangements are in compliance with the clarifications of the DoT at the
time of the auction of the 3G spectrum, all applicable laws and
licensing conditions and are hugely beneficial to customers and grave
inconvenience will be caused to customers if it is disallowed.
source: The Hindu Business Line
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