Ooredoo Myanmar is a telecommunications company in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
.
History
In June 2013, Ooredoo was chosen as one of the two successful applicants among 90 bidders to be awarded a license to operate in Myanmar, considered one of the Asia’s last remaining greenfield telecom markets. Formal licenses were granted in January 2014, and Ooredoo pledged an investment of $15 billion to develop Myanmar’s telecoms sector, with plans to cover 75% of the population in five years.
Following the
2021 Myanmar coup d'etat, many foreign companies exited the Burmese market, including competitor Norwegian-owned
Telenor Myanmar
Telenor Myanmar ( Burmese: တယ်လီနော မြန်မာ) was a telecommunications brand in Myanmar (Burma) between 2014 and 2022. It was established as a subsidiary of the Norwegian Telenor Group, and was sold off to the Lebanese M ...
, due to increasing pressure from military authorities. On 7 September 2022, Ooredoo signed an agreement to sell Ooreedoo Myanmar to Singapore vehicle Nine Communications Pte. Ltd, at a value of $576 million USD, subject to Burmese regulatory approvals. Nine Communications is the subsidiary of zLink Family Office and Nyan Win, which have close ties to the Burmese military officials like
Soe Maung
Soe Maung ( my, စိုးမောင်) is a Burmese politician and retired army general. He served as a Minister of the President's Office in Thein Sein's Cabinet along with five other ministers. He is a retired Major General in the Myanmar ...
. The deal size has courted significant scrutiny for its involvement by business proxies commonly used by the Burmese military, including entities controlled by
Zaw Win Shein (of Ayeyar Hinthar) and Jonathan Kyaw Thaung (of
KT Group
KT Group is a family-owned business enterprise in Myanmar, with business interests in aviation, real estate, container ports, and oil and gas. KT Group is led by Jonathan Kyaw Thaung, its CEO. The Kyaw Thaung family also operates a network of 28 ...
). The announcement of Ooredoo's sale prompted sharp criticism from rights groups, including
Access Now
Access Now is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 with a mission to defend and extend the digital civil rights of people around the world. Access Now supports programs including an annual conference on Human Rights (RightsCon), an index ...
, for putting the personal data of 9 million customers at the hands of the Burmese military.
Leadership
In 2019, Ooredoo Myanmar appointed Rajeev Sethi as its CEO.
See also
*
Telenor Myanmar
Telenor Myanmar ( Burmese: တယ်လီနော မြန်မာ) was a telecommunications brand in Myanmar (Burma) between 2014 and 2022. It was established as a subsidiary of the Norwegian Telenor Group, and was sold off to the Lebanese M ...
*
Mytel
Mytel is a major telecommunications company in Myanmar (Burma), as one of four national carriers. Mytel is operated as a joint venture between the Burmese military and Viettel, which is owned by Vietnam's Ministry of National Defence. Mytel has be ...
*
Myanma Posts and Telecommunications
Myanma Posts and Telecommunications ( my, မြန်မာ့ဆက်သွယ်ရေးလုပ်ငန်း, ''Myanmá Hsekthwaeyè Loukngàn''), abbreviated MPT) is a state owned enterprise in Myanmar under the supervision of Minist ...
*
Telecommunications in Myanmar
Myanmar has begun the liberalization of its Telecommunication market in 2013.
Telecommunication networks
Previously, Myanma Post and Telecommunication (MPT) had a monopoly in the country. In 2013, the government started taking steps to ope ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
Telecommunications companies of Myanmar
Mobile phone companies of Myanmar
Internet service providers of Myanmar
Telecommunications companies established in 2013
2013 establishments in Myanmar