Myanmar is called the last greenfield of telecommunications. There is a great deal of interest in the country, which has one of the lowest rates of mobile phone penetrations in the world. Yet with two private mobile phone giants entering the market in 2014, the commodity has become as commonplace here as it is anywhere else in the world. Earlier this month, I travelled through urban and rural Myanmar for 5 full days. Wherever I looked, the presence of mobile phone technology was glaring.
Myanmar hasn’t had to go through the evolutionary process that the rest of us went through with mobile communication technology. They start with smart phones, and that too, economically priced ones. Call rates, which were high in the not too distant past, are affordable today. At least 3G data will be available wherever there is mobile reception.
Possibly motivated by the private players in the market, the State owned MPT has upped the ante themselves by expanding their coverage by leaps and bounds, all but leaving the competitors behind. They are the first to venture outside of the main cities, where the private operators are still confined. But they too will expand no doubt.
In the meantime, the general population of the country has embraced this 
technology with open arms. Clearly, it’s changing lives and the way that people interact. Facebooking, Viber and selfies galore! And just like anybody else, the average Myanmarese is complaining about how slow the internet is, and how calls often drop. Here’s hoping that the little handset will bring people and communities closer together in this large South East Asian nation.
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