MyTel aims to double subscribers - 14 Feb 2019

MyTel, the fourth largest network provider in Myanmar, has 5 million users after just seven months in business. Shin Moe Myint/The Myanmar Times. MyTel aims to double subscribers, Launched last June, Telecom International Myanmar Co. Ltd., or MyTel, reached a milestone in user growth – 5 million subscribers – on January 31. That has garnered the telecommunications company a market share of 10 percent in just seven months, according to MyTel’s chief external relations officer U Zaw Min Oo.

“We expect to get a 20pc market share over the next two years, when the number of subscribers will reach 10 million. The total investment we have made is now nearly US$1 billion (K1.53 trillion). We will double our investment,” he said in an interview.

“To capture more growth, we have given priority to distant areas such as northern Shan and Rakhine. It will also be available in the Wa (self-administered region). Now it has reached Puta-o (in Kachin State),” U Zaw Min Oo said.

MyTel is the fourth largest network provider in Myanmar after MPT, Telenor and Ooredoo. However, MyTel is the only telecommunications company that offers a complete package of mobile, fixed line, transmission line and IT services nationwide.

MyTel is 49pc owned by Viettel, a Vietnamese enterprise wholly owned and operated by Vietnam’s Defence Ministry. Twenty-eight percent of MyTel’s shares are owned by Star High, a subsidiary of the Myanmar Economic Corp. (MEC), a conglomerate belonging to the Tatmadaw (military). The remaining 23pc is owned by Myanmar National Telecom Holding, a consortium of 11 local companies. Of Viettel’s 10 international markets, Myanmar is the largest and has the highest potential for growth. In a recent interview with Reuters, Lê ??ng D?ng, chairman of Viettel, said that Myanmar’s telecommunications market was unusual and the country still has growth potential. He rated Myanmar as one of Viettel’s most promising markets.