Myanmar Telecom Market Size

Myanmar Telecom Market Analysis

The Myanmar telecom market is expected to register a CAGR of 1.5% over the next five years. Although local Myanmar firms have occasionally provided the country's telecommunications infrastructure, international organizations are frequently used because of the superior quality services they can offer. The telecom industry in the country is moving towards competition, and the major telecom players are Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)', Myanmar Broadband Telecom Co Ltd., Mytel S.A, ATOM Myanmar, and Global Technology Company.

• Myanmar's telecommunication industry has recently undergone a significant transformation, earning praise as Asia's last genuine telecoms greenfield. The late investments from 2014 onwards are mostly to blame for Myanmar's position as one of the world's fastest-growing telecom markets. To quickly boost the country's economy and residents' quality of life, Myanmar has implemented several changes. Despite the adverse social and public health effects and the uncertain political and economic outlook brought on by the Covid-19 epidemic and the political climate last year, it is anticipated that the Myanmar telecoms sector will continue to grow.
• Unprecedented Internet restrictions have been practiced in Myanmar since February of last year. Moreover, starting with random social media censorship and sporadic Internet connectivity issues, regulations advanced to more stringent website blocking, the termination of cellular data in some networks, and practically nightly Internet disconnection. However, In January this year, there were 25.28 million internet users in Myanmar. In Myanmar, 45.9% of the population has access to the internet as of the beginning of the current year. According to Kepios' research, Internet users in Myanmar climbed by 1.7 million (+7.1%) between last and present year.
• Myanmar has retreated to the age of the keypad phone under military rule. To combat the execution of random smartphone spot checks by the military junta, many individuals have reacted by hiding their smartphones and rushing to buy keypad phones that only allow for the most fundamental forms of communication, such as texting and calling. Civilians are on the assumption that using smartphones is no longer secure.
• Myanmar has witnessed substantial improvements in its telecommunications environment in the last decade using the technical know-how of foreign companies. However, since the military takeover in February 2021, there have been several total and partial internet outages in Myanmar. These limitations have varied in severity across the nation and over time, starting with the complete shutdown of all wireless broadband services and nightly shutdowns of fixed-line services in February and April last year. Further, at the beginning of May last year, access was restricted to an allowlist of websites and services, and there were irregular subnational shutdowns.
• When the telecom sector rebounded, and the ordinary people's dependency on telecommunication intensified due to the work-from-home and online everything setup, Myanmar's military junta suspended the internet across the country. In addition to other constraints, the military administration that took over Myanmar imposed increasingly tight internet and social media censorship where these platforms had been crucial for disseminating knowledge and instructions about critical COVID-19 preventative measures. These restrictions also hampered the COVID-19 pandemic control efforts.