Communication Network to Expand with $155m Korean Loan

The government will expand the country’s communication and fibre optic network using a $155.87 million soft loan from South Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund, a top government official said.
“Currently, we need more budget to develop the communication infrastructure, and also more foreign investment. So, the ministry is borrowing loan with low interest rate,” U Thaung Tin, deputy union minister for telecommunication and information technology, said.
Myanmar Posts and Telecommunication (MPT) sources said the loan will be used to build more towers, install underground fiber optic cables for transmission, and set up satellite connection and install network accessories.
MPT in June granted licences to two international telecom operators to carry out a countrywide mobile phone network rollout, eyeing to achieve an ambitious 75 percent mobile density in Myanmar by 2015-16.
However, the parliament is still sorting out the respective allocation amount of the EDCF loan for the Ministry of Electric Power (MoEP) and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).
MoEP said that it wants $100 million from the EDCF fund for construction of a 117-mile long 500KV power line between Taungoo and Bago, while MCIT wants the loan for fibre-optic construction.