Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...

Myanmar ( Burmese: တယ်လီနော မြန်မာ) was a telecommunications brand in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

(Burma) between 2014 and 2022. It was established as a subsidiary of the Norwegian

Group, and was sold off to the Lebanese M1 Group in the aftermath of the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when Elections in Myanmar, democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's milita ...

. After a lengthy regulatory process, Myanmar authorities approved the transaction on 18 March 2022. The company rebranded to

ATOM Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

on 8 June 2022.

History

In February 2013, Telenor participated in the bidding for newly available Myanmar mobile licenses. On 27 June 2013, it was announced that Telenor had been awarded one of two 15-year contracts for telecom development in Myanmar. Telenor received its license from the

Government of Myanmar Myanmar ( formerly Burma) () operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. P ...

to officially start mobile network operations on 5 February 2014. Its mobile network was trialed on 7 April 2014, and mobile services began operations in

Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...

on 27 September 2014. Telenor's network subsequently launched in

Naypyidaw Naypyidaw (), officially Romanization of Burmese, romanized as Nay Pyi Taw (NPT), is the capital city, capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's ...

on 4 October 2014, and full coverage of Myanmar was achieved on 26 October 2014. Telenor provides mobile voice and internet services using 2G and 3G GSM technology. Its network is LTE ready and plans to cover 90% of the Myanmar population within 5 years of operations In June 2014, Telenor Myanmar helped the Burmese Wikipedia community to hold their first joint workshop to recruit new volunteers. The Burmese Wikipedia Forum was held at

Dagon University Dagon University ( ), located in North Dagon Township, North Dagon, Yangon, is one of the largest universities in Myanmar. The university, established in 1993, offers bachelor's and master's degrees in liberal arts and sciences to full-time, part ...

with the help of Telenor Myanmar in July 2014, attracting over 2,000 people, including students. In November 2014, Telenor and

Yoma Bank Yoma Bank Limited (; zh, c=祐瑪銀行, p=Yòumǎ Yínháng) is one of Myanmar's largest commercial banks. As ‘the Responsible Bank’ for 30 years, Yoma Bank has been the fastest developing private bank in Myanmar. The bank has 81 branches ac ...

announced their cooperation to provide mobile banking to Myanmar. The aim of their cooperation is to provide access to financial services to people who do not have bank accounts. As of June 2019, it had more than 19 million subscribers.

Forced shutdowns

The junta-controlled Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) made at least 200 requests to Telenor over the past 12 months for information, including records of calls, call locations and the last known location of a number, a source with inside knowledge of the situation told ''Myanmar Now''. The company complied with all of these requests, as well as with instructions to shut down specified mobile numbers, the source said. For several months, ending in September 2019, Telenor Myanmar was ordered to shut off service to

Maungdaw Maungdaw (, ) is a town in Rakhine State, in the western part of Myanmar (Burma). It is the administrative seat of Maungdaw Township and Maungdaw District. Bordering Bangladesh, Maungdaw is home to one of 2 official border trade posts with Bang ...

Buthidaung Buthidaung (, ) is a town in Rakhine State, in the westernmost part of Myanmar (Burma). It is the administrative seat of the Buthidaung Township. Buthidaung lies on the west bank of the Mayu river, and experienced severe flooding in June 2010 and ...

Rathedaung Rathedaung () is the administrative town of Rathedaung Township in Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). It is situated beside the Mayu River and is located north of Sittwe. The town is split into four quarters; Taung Ran Tan and Chaung Wa are the no ...

and

Myebon Myebon ( Myebon Township) is a town of Mrauk-U District in Rakhine State, Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwes ...

. In February 2020, the Ministry of Transport and Communications ordered Telenor to shut off service to five townships in

Rakhine State Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...

and

Chin State Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, the Chattogram Division of Bangladesh to the west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to th ...

. Similar requests for information and forced shutdowns have been made to all other mobile operators and internet service providers in Myanmar, but none of the other companies have ever publicly admitted to this.

2021 coup

In the aftermath of the

, Telenor faced increasing pressure from the

State Administration Council The State Administration Council (; abbreviated SAC or နစက) is the military junta currently governing Myanmar, established by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, February 2021 c ...

, the military junta, to activate intercept equipment to surveil and monitor its 18 million customers. In May 2021, Telenor was forced to write off USD$780 million investment in Myanmar. On 8 July 2021, Telenor announced it would sell Telenor Myanmar for to M1 Group, an investment company based in Lebanon, founded by Taha and

Najib Mikati Najib Azmi Mikati (born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician and businessman who served as the 52nd prime minister of Lebanon from 2021 to 2025. He previously served in this post as the 48th and 45th prime minister from 2011 to 2014 and i ...

. The sale was approved by Burmese regulatory authorities and ultimately by the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) on 18 March 2022. The first tranche of the transaction was completed on 25 March 2022 and operational control handed over to the new owner. In February 2022, reports emerged that Shwe Byain Phyu (SBP) would own 80% of Telenor Myanmar with Lebanese M1 Group owning the remaining shares. Shwe Byain Phyu and M1 Group have formed a joint venture, Investcom, to take over Telenor operations in Myanmar. The sale prompted significant scrutiny from Burmese civil society over data privacy concerns, given SBP's links to the Burmese military. Legal experts and activists have urged Telenor to protect customer metadata, by putting the sale on hold or by deleting the data before the transaction is completed. On 10 February, Duwa Lashi La, the acting president of the

National Unity Government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...

called on the acting prime minister of Norway to intervene and prevent the sale. The sale of Telenor Myanmar to M1 Group was approved by Myanmar authorities on 18 March, transferred to new ownership on 25 March, and subsequently rebranded to

on 8 June 2022.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Telenor Telecommunications companies established in 2013 Mobile phone companies of Myanmar Internet service providers of Myanmar Telecommunications companies of Myanmar 2021 mergers and acquisitions

History

Forced shutdowns

2021 coup

See also

References

External links