Business
South African mobile giant MTN looking to expand to Myanmar
South African mobile telecommunications giant MTN has stepped up its awareness campaign in South East Asia today by detailing its unparalleled track record in emerging markets to the Myanmar media.
The initiative is in support of MTN’s bid for the Myanmar telecommunications licence, for which the Johannesburg-headquartered mobile operator has been pre-qualified along with 11 other mobile players.
MTN is one of the world’s largest mobile operators, with nearly 200 million subscribers across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. MTN has market capitalization of US$36 billion, annual revenues of US$18 billion and is a market leader in 70 percent of the 22 countries in which it operates.
Determined to expand its global footprint ever further, MTN is now addressing the South East Asian mobile market.
Serame Taukobong, MTN Executive, said MTN is committed to rolling out a nationwide world-class network in Myanmar, providing high-quality voice and super-fast data communication, Internet services, mobile money and other industry-specific services.
“We are confident that our demonstrable track record will place MTN in good stead to be awarded one of Myanmar’s two telecommunications licences,” said Taukobong, adding that MTN had built a solid mobile operator reputation through investment in infrastructure, including the deployment of 2G, 3G and LTE networks.
He said MTN’s experience in operating in some of the world’s most difficult terrains, would facilitate rapid rollout across all of Myanmar’s regions.
“One of our most recent network infrastructure roll-out achievements was in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with more than 161 million people, where we brought 1,414 2G and 1,175 3G sites online during 2012 alone. During the same year, MTN Nigeria added 5.8 million subscribers and recorded 4 million active 3G devices on its network,” explained Taukobong.
