In anticipation of competition from Ooredoo and Telenor, Myanmar state-owned operator MPT has tapped Dialogic to help modernize its network, and reportedly plans to slash its calling rates.
MPT will deploy Dialogic's intelligent call control system, media gateways and session border controllers across multiple locations in the country.
The company will use the infrastructure to connect its local PSTN switches, provide connectivity to other operators and help provide VoIP peering and subscriber access services.
Dialogic teamed up with local partner Khine ThinSar to bid for the contract, and will collaborate with the company on the rollout.
MPT separately plans to slash its local calling rates from 50 kyats ($0.05) per minute to 20 kyats or lower and its SMS rates from 25 kyats to 10 kyats or below, Myanmar Elevensaid, citing ICT ministry sources.
Ooredoo launched services in Myanmar earlier this month with discounted call rates compared to MPT, and has already attracted 1 million customers. Telenor plans to commence its own Myanmar operations next month.
According to the ministry sources, MPT does not intend to change its strategy of charging for data access based on time used and not data consumed.
Ooredoo's launch attracted some criticism from local consumers accustomed to the MPT model for instead including data allocations in its daily or monthly rates.
As well as the network modernization project, MPT has responded to the liberalization of Myanmar's telecom sector by partnering with Japanese operator KDDI for its fixed and mobile service operations.