Myanmar's ICT ministry has revealed plans to award two nationwide telecom licenses in 1H13, and will allow both foreign and domestic firms to participate in the tender.
In a statement, the Ministry of Communications and IT said it is seeking expressions of interest in the tender. Interested parties will have until January 25 to apply.
The ministry said its goal of the tender is to facilitate competition between both domestic and international operators in the sector.
“The main goals are to increase the overall teledensity of the country to 75% to 80% in 2015-2016, to make the telecommunications services available to the public at affordable prices, and to give the public the capability of choice [of] telecommunications services,” the announcement states.
Mobile penetration has so far been severely limited in Myanmar due to factors including a dearth of infrastructure, as well as the high price of SIM cards, which cost around $250, according toAFP.
Recently-liberalized Myanmar revealed last July that it plans to start opening its telecom market to foreign participants.
Since then, both NTT Com and KDDI have opened branches both focused on providing ICT services to multinational enterprises. Smartphone vendor HTC meanwhile launched its first retail store in the market this week.