Mynamar's telecom ministry has announced the shortlist of 12 approved bidders for one of two mobile licenses, culling 10 other applications in the process.
The shortlist includes the consortium between China Mobile and Vodafone, formed this month to participate in the tender.
Other approved Asian operators bidding alone or in a consortium bid include SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Axiata, KDDI and Viettel.
Norway's Telenor, MTN Dubai, Jamaica's Digicel, Millicom, Qatar Telecom and Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo round out the list of individual or consortium leader applicants.
The shortlisted companies now have until June 3 to submit a bid for a 15-year mobile license. The two winners will be announced towards the end of that month.
Myanmar announced plans to issue the two licenses in January, to help improve teledensity in the nation. The allocation forms part of a wider plan to open the nation's telecom market up to foreign participation.
The license allocation process drew 22 applications, reportedly involving a combined 18 mobile operators.
The license auction drew such strong interest from the international telecom sector because Myanmar is seen as one of the world's last largely untapped mobile markets.