As we always say, think of the Internet as a chain. A chain is as strong as the weakest link. This imperfectly researched article by a Yangon based journalist (has missed the AAE-1 Cable completely) claims that backhaul problems may be responsible for the poor Internet performance of Ooredoo.
For Telenor and Ooredoo to be able to provide the capacity and redundancy needed for stable service, many across the industry point out that the companies need to be as involved with putting up towers and tower equipment as they are with building more long-haul domestic and international fiber links.
Although Ooredoo has taken a starring role with regards to eye-catching marketing and corporate service responsibility initiatives, the company has also declined to even acknowledge any plans to beef up infrastructure.
Telenor’s spokesperson Hanne Knudsen confirmed that Telenor is in the process of building new fiber lines; Knudsen declined, however, to say when they would be ready and where their eventual international connections might go.
For now, she says that Telenor is “leasing capacity from MPT [Myanmar Post and Telecommunications] on their cables to China and Thailand and are buying capacity from the border for the international connectivity.” At the borders, Telenor, like Ooredoo and MPT, are paying for bandwidth on terrestrial cables into Thailand and China, as well as on the country’s only subsea Internet cable, SEA-ME-WE 3.
2 Comments
Parvez Iftikhar
International bandwidth can be bought/leased at the borders, but to reach the border/s is an even bigger issue. Imagine connecting all those thousands of scattered towers with optic fibers. In case of Broadband, Backhaul should not be underestimated