Myanmar to put low-cost mobile phones into service across country
YANGON — Myanmar telecommunications authorities announced on Wednesday that it will put low-cost mobile phones into service across the country next month.
It said that GSM/WCDMA sim cards, which will be sold at a low price of 200,000 Kyats (247 U.S. dollars) since May 3, can be carried and used at any place across the country including Yangon and Mandalay.
The program is all ready to launch as installation of such network nationwide is nearly completed, said the Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT).
The market demand of such low-cost sim cards has become high following the announcement.
The MPT made a pilot introduction with such cards in March under its mobile phone extension program but then coverage was restricted to exclude Yangon and Mandalay.
The revised GSM sim card prices are down from the previous 500, 000 Kyats (617 U.S. dollars).
The initial installation fees of other mobile phones such as CDMA-450 MHz, WCDMA and CDMA-800 MHz were also cut to 200,000 Kyats, 250,000 Kyats and 250,000 Kyats respectively.
The MPT is striving time after time not only for providing efficient communication services to the state and the public but also for backing up socio-economic development.
Observers here said the move will speed up Myanmar’s communication development but the quality of the link remains to be improved. <Xinhua>
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