MYANMAR Posts and Telecommunications has reached more than 98 per cent of Mynamar’s population with its network coverage, paving the way for the country’s telecoms leader to expand 4G services nationwide this year.
Toshitake Amamiya, chief executive officer of the MPTKDDI joint operations, said in an exclusive interview that the telecom operator planned to expand its 4G coverage throughout the nation; it’s now only available in some townships of Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw.
Japanese mobile operator KDDI is a partner of MPT in Myanmar.
“We have thousands of towers, the number of which is increasing almost daily,” Amamiya said. “We use the 900MHz spectrum that can cover a greater area with fewer towers needed. Combined with strategic placement, we are able to reach over 98 per cent population coverage, and have a robust network that delivers quality and capacity over 3G and soon 4G.”
According to Amamiya, the company has more than 25 million active SIMs in circulation, and it is looking to grow its user base with further improvements to network coverage “to deliver the best services to the whole of Myanmar”.
When asked about data usage on MPT network, he said, “In common with the whole of Myanmar, data is a very important service for our customers. We have a number of attractive data packs on offer, and expect that over the next three years that data consumption will only increase along with demand for more capacity.”
The company has received supฌport in the form of technology and investment from KSGM, its Japanese partner, which will improve its connectivity and services. The investment will be at least US$2 billion over a decade, Amamiya said.
Still, Amamiya said the company had some challenges to overcome. “Certainly, there are challenges involved. That is what we expected. However, we address these on a case by case basis and always strive to get the best outcome for our customers,” he said.
Among its services, the company provides fixed line services for corporate customers. It has expanded into high speed fibre internet services, deploying secured data networks with mobile remote access, and developing fixed line mobile bundled services.
Additionally, it is now working on Fixed Mobile Convergence services that blur the differences between fixed and mobile networks. Moreover, mobile money services are also expected to be available later this year.
“This is particularly important for serving B2B (business to business) customers, and it is an area in which we have an advantage over other operators. These improvements canฌnot be seen overnight but I am sure it will be the best available for our customers,” he said.
As part of its corporate social responsibility programme, the company supports the National League for Democracy’s Education Network ‘Digital Skills to Go Forward’ campaign, which aims to enhance digital literacy in Myanmar.
“There will be more initiatives like this in the future. We are also taking measures to roll out telecentres. This will include town centre locations, plus innovative solutions to get connectivity to rural areas,” Amamiya said.
In late March, the telco announced its new Shal Pyaw tariff plan which offers customers more savings for on-net calls at the nation’s lowest dailing rate of just 15 Ks/minute, making it a highly attractive option for those who regularly call friends and family on its network.
Customers in Shal Pyaw plan can enjoy the same data package as SweThahar plan. The firm offers range of packages with discounted rates starting from 1Ks/MB such as the colourful data packs, night time data packs and social pack. Furthermore, any megabytes from data packs purchased while on other plans prior to subscribing to Shal Pyaw, would be carried over as long as they still remain valid within the respective packs’ duration periods. Internet access will remain intact even if you revert to other tariff plans.
Additionally, the telco has been recognised as Myanmar’s fastest mobile network, according to Ooklas analysis of its speedtest intelligence data. The report says that MPT’s average download speed is 7.4Mbps – comfortably out pacing its competitors by this measurement.
The telco has embarked on their own digital transformation journey since July 2014 when it started joint operations with Japanese partners. Since Spring 2015, the firm has partnered with Microsoft to deploy Office 365 to modernise its ICT environment, enable new forms of knowledge sharing, collaboration and interconnectivity for its employees.