By JURI CHAI – Burma’s Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) in Moulmein, capital of Mon State, has offered a chance for customers to purchase mobile phones and receive them in two days.
Mobile phone customers in Mon State said that they previously had to wait for one month to purchase and receive a phone under the restrictive military regime’s rule. For decades, the Burmese regime has attempted to restrict civilians access to current technology, worrying about news spreading outside of the country.
“Now, if you buy it [a phone], you just need to contact them [MPT] and they will make you wait two days. Then, you will get it,” said a GSM mobile phone buyer in Moulmein.
Nai Marn, another mobile phone buyer in Thanbyuzayart Township, who recently arrived on the Thai-Burmese border, said, “We go there [to the mobile phone service company] this morning, and we can get it [a phone] in the evening if we know how to approach them [by bribing].”
For one mobile phone, one must pay 500,000 kyat. Sources said they had to pay agents close to MPT 10,000 to 30,000 kyat as bribes in order to receive their phone quickly.
The new ease in buying a mobile phone has caused many people to inquire and buy mobile phones.
On March 20th, MPT offered 30,000 GSM mobile phones in Moulmein and many youth have shown an interest in buying mobile phones as well. “As the price of rubber is higher this year, many Mon youths have begun to use mobile phones,” said Nai Marn.
According to the Voice Weekly Journal, based in Rangoon, Burma has a population of 60 million in which 1,090,323 use auto phone lines and 2,101,427 use mobile phones making up only 5.4 percent of the population.
The Irrawaddy News Online, a Burmese exiled media group, based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, reported on June 18, 2009 that “Burma introduced a cellular phone system in 1993, followed by the CDMA system in 1997, the GSM system in 2002 and CDM-450 MHz in 2008.”
MPT is the only mobile phone service provider in Burma, and therefore has elicited excitement with the introduction of 30,000 extra phones in Mon State.
