Ooredoo Myanmar said it has successfully tested the first mobile calls to and from its network and that of the other new mobile operator, terming the event “an important milestone” in the rollout of telecommunications infrastructure across Myanmar.
“In our industry it is important that operators do collaborate to enable total connectivity and choice for customers,” Ooredoo CEO Ross Cormack said, highlighting the importance of good working relationships between operators.
The Qatar-based company and Norway’s Telenor last year won the bid for the two telecommunications licences offered to foreign firms by the Myanmar government, which seeks to cede its ironclad control over the country’s telecommunications sector.
Punishing SIM card prices and state monopoly have left Myanmar’s telecoms infrastructure in shambles and only managed a dismal mobile penetration rate of 1 percent of the population.
“We hope to be able to progress our work in connecting to the existing MPT network in the near future,” Cormack said.
The company said in order for the people of Myanmar to enjoy the benefits of healthy competition it is “vital that different networks are able to interconnect with each other.”
Ooredoo is currently rolling out a voice- and data-enabled 3G network, following the official awarding of the licences in February. The firm said it will finish rolling out its network across the country within six months since the official awarding.
“This interconnection milestone brings together Ooredoo’s next generation technology with that of the current generation technology being deployed by the other new operator,” the firm, which currently employs over 700 local staff, said.
