Myanmar has attracted at least three potential bidders for telecommunications licences, reports Bloomberg. Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), Axiata Group and Singapore's ST Telemedia, a unit of Temasek Holdings, said that they have submitted expressions of interest to the Myanmar government. Myanmar is offering two licences to enhance telecommunication coverage to as much as 80 percent of the country by 2016, the government said on 15 January when inviting foreign companies to submit bids.
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology director Than Zaw said that a statement would be released, without giving a timeframe. Ministry of Finance and Revenue, Deputy Minister Maung Maung Thein said he has not yet been informed about the process. Ye Htut, a spokesman for President Thein Sein, was not immediately available to comment. The licences will be issued by June and may last as long as 20 years with an option for renewal, said the government. Myanmar's parliament may approve a draft telecommunications law, which will include the creation of an independent regulator by 2015, in the first half of this year, it added.
