Myanmar to expand mobile phone services
The telecommunications authorities are planning to expand mobile-phone services to ensure complete coverage in 10 years.
The current phone-user ratio in the country is 100:7.
According to the Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT) plan, 45 million people will have mobile phones by 2015-2016.
The MPT aims to ensure that every citizen capable of buying a mobile phone can do so within 10 years of the civilian government, which means by 2020-2021. By then, the number will rise to 76 million, the MPT estimates. As per the plan, the number will reach 120 million by 2025-2026 and 150 million in 2030-2031.
While Myanmar lags far behind the neighbouring and Asean countries in terms of mobile-phone coverage, connections are very costly and not easy to get here. One has to pay 200,000 kyats (Bt7,050).
