SingTel consortium aims to help Myanmar develop its satellite telecoms

By May Wong   
POSTED: 11 Jun 2013 8:08 PM  

SingTel has teamed up with Myanmar's partners KBZ and M-Tel, and the consortium is among 11 contenders bidding for two Myanmar telecom licences.

Singapore Telecom building in Singapore. (AFP/Roslan Rahman)


YANGON: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) said it wants to help Myanmar develop and launch its own national satellite for telecommunications.

SingTel has teamed up with Myanmar's partners KBZ and M-Tel, and the consortium is among 11 contenders bidding for two Myanmar telecom licences.

The successful bidders will be announced on June 27.

Having its own state-of-the-art satellite and submarine cables will enable Myanmar to connect easily with the rest of the world.

That's what the SingTel consortium is proposing, as it has knowledge and experience in this field.

Mr Mark Chong, CEO International of Group Consumer at SingTel, said: "On submarine cables and satellites, we do think that this differenciates us from the offerings of the others. If you look at some of the comments that have emerged, nobody talks about offering international connectivity to Myanmar."

The consortium is not seen as a front-runner, but its partners say their tender far exceeds the government's requirements.

Mr Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung, Founder and CEO of M-Tel, said: "One major thing was that although there was no requirement in the tender and the fact that SingTel decided to engage with the locals, I think will stand in everyone's favour. I think everyone's of equal strength and our chances are as good as the other ten."

Telenor is one of the leading contenders among the 11 bidders for the tender.

Telenor's chief would only say the company is experienced in setting up telecommunications systems in emerging markets like Thailand (DTAC), Malaysia (DiGi) and India (Uninor).

And while the Myanmar market presents attractive opportunities, it also comes with significant hurdles.

Mr Frederik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group, said: "I think that the energy side is a very important point, and to find efficient solutions on how to bring energy to base stations. Because base stations need energy. That is sort of a bigger challenge in this country because of a lack of a grid system. So in a way, there's a lot of things that's going to be resolved and I think we have the experience of doing it before and we're ready to do it once more."

Also ready to roll out its telco plans is Yoma Strategic Holdings, which is partnering billionaire George Soros and Digicel.

Mr Serge Pun, Executive Chairman of Yoma Strategic Holdings, said: "We've made a commitment that by 1st of December 2013, which is a mere six months away or even less, that we would have the service running. That's a very ambitious commitment but we're confident that we could meet the deadline because of all the preparations that we've done for the past three-and-a-half years. This is something that is absent in the other bidders as far as I know."

Yoma is also committed to rolling out 4G mobile phone network nationwide and offering affordable pricing.

The selection committee will now look at factors such as how fast the companies can roll out their plans, what value-added services they can bring to the table and whether the winning bidder will have the capabilities to build the infrastructure and provide good coverage across Myanmar.

The Myanmar government has said the selection process will be fair and transparent without political intervention.

Now it boils down to which proposal best meets the needs of the Myanmar people and whether the price is right.

- CNA/de/ac

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/singtel-consortium-aims/706366.html