The Republic of the Union of Myanmar today closed its public consultation on its proposed rules for the country’s telecommunications sector, which covers areas such as licensing, access and interconnection, spectrum, numbering, and competition. TelcoProspects for Myanmar’s telecoms sector are looking very positive.

Managed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the consultation allowed interested parties such as Ooredoo, Telenor, MPT, YPT, and industry players to comment on the proposed rules which were published on November 4. As anticipated, the draft rules included proposals for the issuance of additional telecoms licences in Myanmar.

The consultation covered five broad areas:
1. Licensing;
2. Access and interconnection;
3. Spectrum;
4. Numbering; and
5. Competition.

A key question here is whether the proposed rules meet international best practice benchmarks? Now that the consultation on the draft regulations has closed, it is possible to provide an interim report card. While this can be done in different ways, a useful benchmark is the reference telecoms paper of the GATS annex on telecoms which sets out the basic elements of a liberalized telecoms regulatory framework. more…