Myanmar Mobile Usage Grows Order of Magnitude, Prices Drop 10X in 5 Years

JIn 2008, mobile phone penetration in Myanmar stood at about one percent. Then government officials decided to spur competition by granting new licenses to new operators. 



By 2013, adoption had grown to 13 percent, an order of magnitude increase in five years. 



The dramatic surge in mobile usage meanwhile was matched by a 10-fold reduction in price.

The price of a subscriber infomation module dropped from $3,000 to about $260. Qatar’s Ooredoo now sells SIM cards for 1,500 kyat ($1.50).