Myanmar is working on a new spectrum allocation policy that will enable it to make more sub-1 GHz frequencies available to mobile operators, the country’s deputy communications minister said this week.
The news will doubtless be welcome to Myanmar’s mobile operators, who are seeing SIM cards fly from the shelves and experiencing strong demand for smartphones, despite the immaturity of the market.
"We are not using UHF television, so [the] 700 MHz frequency is available at this moment in t ime," U Thaung Tin, deputy minister at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, revealed on Tuesday.
There is also scope for new spectrum allocations in the 850 MHz and 900 MHz bands, he said, adding that the ministry is drafting a policy document on the subject that will be available "soon".
Myanmar’s mobile market was effectively created with the award of operating licences to two international telcos – Telenor and Ooredoo – in mid-2013. The pair launched services a year later and operate alongside state-owned Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), which has partnered with Japan’s KDDI.
The three are struggling to keep up with the huge demand for mobile services in Myanmar.
"Whatever SIM cards they distribute are selling like hot cakes," U Thaung Tin said.
As of the first quarter of this year, mobile penetration in Myanmar stood at 25.4%, up from 18.7% at the end of last year and 11.7% three months earlier than that.
50% of people buying a mobile phone in the country specifically ask for data, while a staggering 70% of all the phones sold are smartphones.
"The prices of 3G handsets are coming down very rapidly," the deputy minister said.
Soon the country will have a fourth operator, in the form of ISP Yatanarpon Teleport (YTP), which will help with meeting demand. But there is still a lot of work to be done to bring Myanmar’s infrastructure up to scratch.
The country has close to 30 Gbps of international bandwidth provided by the incumbent, rising to around 40 Gbps including the infrastructure being built by Telenor and Ooredoo. This will increase to 120 Gbps in the next two to three years, but that will still not be enough.
"We need to have 200 Gbps bandwidth," U Thaung Tin said.
There are currently 3,000 mobile towers, but the country needs 15,000-20,000, and fibre rollout has reached 5,000 km but needs to grow to over 30,000 km.
"We also need to have institutional reform," U Thaung Tin said.
"An independent regulator has to be set up before October this year," he explained.
