The MTN Consortium‚ which included Myanmar-based Amara Communications and M1 Telecom‚ was part of the highly competitive bid process involving 11 other international operators.
"In keeping with our strategy to continue exploring and evaluating suitable opportunities for further growth in developing countries‚ we still consider Myanmar an attractive market. To this end‚ we will review other options as they become available and make a decision after the appropriate due consideration‚" the group said in a statement.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that Norway's Telenor ASA and Qatar Telecom QSC will become Myanmar's first foreign telecommunications operators after clinching two hotly-contested licenses to develop the South-east Asian country's nascent but potentially lucrative telecommunications industry.
The tender is part of Myanmar's efforts to open up its once tightly controlled telecommunications sector to foreign investment‚ amid a political and economic transition from decades of military rule. Analysts say the process would serve as a blueprint for tenders of other highly-coveted licenses‚ including in the oil and gas sector.
Telenor and Qatar Telecom defeated nine other finalists in the tender. The two winners will operate alongside Myanmar's two existing telecommunications operators.
Myanmar is a major telecommunications frontier market‚ with only 5.4m out of country's 60m people owning a mobile phone subscription as of the end of 2012‚ translating to a mobile penetration rate of 9%‚ according to official estimates. This compares with 70% in Cambodia‚ 87% in Laos and over 100% in Thailand‚ according to the International Telecommunication Union.
The Myanmar government wants to increase the percentage of the population owning a telephone to between 75% and 80% by 2016.
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