MPT readies 4G push across Myanmar
MYANMAR Posts and Telecommunications has reached more than 98 per cent of Mynamar’s population with its network coverage, paving the way for the country’s telecoms leader to expand 4G services nationwide this year.
Toshitake Amamiya, chief execuฌtive officer of the MPTKDDI joint operations, said in an exclusive interview that the telecom operator planned to expand its 4G coverage throughout the nation; it’s now only available in some townships of Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw.
Japanese mobile operator KDDI is a partner of MPT in Myanmar.
“We have thousands of towers, the number of which is increasing almost daily,” Amamiya said. “We use the 900MHz spectrum that can cover a greater area with fewer towฌers needed. Combined with strateฌgic placement, we are able to reach over 98 per cent population coverฌage, and have a robust network that delivers quality and capacity over 3G and soon 4G.”
According to Amamiya, the comฌpany has more than 25 million active SIMs in circulation, and it is lookฌing to grow its user base with further improvements to network coverage “to deliver the best services to the whole of Myanmar”.
When asked about data usage on MPT network, he said, “In common with the whole of Myanmar, data is a very important service for our cusฌtomers. We have a number of attracฌtive data packs on offer, and expect that over the next three years that data consumption will only increase along with demand for more capacฌity.”
The company has received supฌport in the form of technology and investment from KSGM, its Japanese partner, which will improve its connectivity and servicฌes. The investment will be at least US$2 billion over a decade, Amamiya said.
Still, Amamiya said the company had some challenges to overcome. “Certainly, there are challenges involved. That is what we expected. However, we address these on a case by case basis and always strive to get the best outcome for our customers,” he said.
Among its services, the company provides fixedline services for corฌporate customers. It has expanded into highspeed fibre internet servฌices, deploying secured data netฌworks with mobile remote access, and developing fixed linemobile bundled services.
Additionally, it is now working on Fixed–Mobile Convergence services that blur the differences between fixed and mobile networks. Moreover, mobile money services are also expected to be available later this year.
“This is particularly important for serving B2B (business to business) customers, and it is an area in which we have an advantage over other operators. These improvements canฌnot be seen overnight but I am sure it will be the best available for our customers,” he said.
As part of its corporate social responsibility programme, the comฌpany supports the National League for Democracy’s Education Network ‘Digital Skills to Go Forward’ camฌpaign, which aims to enhance digiฌtal literacy in Myanmar.
“There will be more initiatives like this in the future. We are also taking measures to roll out telecentres. This will include town centre locaฌtions, plus innovative solutions to get connectivity to rural areas,” Amamiya said.
