Vietnamese military-owned telecoms group Viettel has been selected to partner with a consortium of local companies and a military-owned firm to establish Myanmar’s fourth mobile operator. The Vietnamese company is now expected to negotiate business and technical specifications with its partners before completing the application for the fourth licence. The process is expected to take one to two months, with the new licence due to be issued in June 2016. Whilst seven companies responded to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s (MCIT’s) initial request for expression of interest, Viettel was the only company to complete the application process.
Under the government’s plans, the consortium of eleven domestic companies – the Myanmar special purpose vehicle (SPV) – and the Ministry of Defence’s Star High Public Company Ltd will take a 51% stake in the new joint venture, whilst Viettel will hold the remaining 49%. The new concession includes 2×5MHz in the 900MHz range and 2×10MHz in the 2100MHz band with a reference price of USD300 million, and includes the option for additional spectrum in the 2100MHz range.