Viettel plans $1.5-billion Myanmar telecoms investment with local firms

HANOI — Vietnamese telecom company Viettel said on Monday it plans to form a consortium with two Myanmar companies to invest a combined $1.5 billion in Myanmar’s telecoms sector if it wins the country’s fourth, and last, telecom license.

Viettel is expected to be awarded the license some time after June, joining three existing license holders: Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), Norway’s Telenor and Qatar’s Ooredoo.

Liberalization of the telecoms sector is widely seen as one of Myanmar’s most successful reforms since the military ceded power in 2011.

To gain the fourth license, foreign bidders must set up a joint venture with local firms.

Military- run Viettel, one of Vietnam’s leading telecoms companies, said in a statement that it plans to form a consortium with Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public Limited, consisting of 11 local companies, and stateowned Star High Public Company Limited.

The two Myanmar firms will hold a combined 51% of the joint venture, while Viettel, which operates in 10 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas, will own the remaining stake.

Viettel also plans to launch 4G services in Myanmar, subject to additional licensing.

The Myanmar government said on March 25 that it expects to open the application process for the license in the middle of June and that Viettel was the only candidate negotiating for a joint venture.

Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, which operates in partnership with Japan’s KDDI Corp. and Sumitomo Corp., is the market leader in Myanmar’s telecoms sector with 18 million subscribers as of January, while Telenor has 12 million subscribers and Ooredoo has 5.8 million. —