Post and Telecommunications Telecommunications (MPT) Department (PTD) and Myanma Posts and Within MCIT, there are currently two sub-divisions: the Posts and Telecommunications Department (PTD) 49 and Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT). 50 Both are currently undergoing wholesale re-structuring. The draft 2015 Telecoms Master Plan outlines a restructure of Myanmar’s ICT related institutional framework to create a new ‘industry ecosystem’. Under the Master Plan, MCIT will be split into two regulatory bodies and two operators, so that there is independence between operations and regulation, policymaking and oversight responsibilities, including for cybersecurity. Committing to a clear legal, regulatory, and technological separation between Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), service operators (MPT and private), and security agencies is a welcome step in the reform of the ICT sector (see further Chapter 4.3 on Privacy and Chapter 4.4 on Surveillance). PTD is currently the ICT regulatory authority in Myanmar and manages the telecommunications licensing system and spectrum management (detailing specific technology and businesses permitted to transmit on specific radio frequencies in Myanmar). PTD is intended to become an independent regulator 51 by end 2015, to be called the Myanmar Communications Regulatory Commission (MCRC). Its core functions will reportedly be: licensing; spectrum management; interconnection; infrastructure sharing; price and access regulation; equal access and competition; and consumer rights and disputes management. ICT Security (ICTS) will be the other regulatory authority, responsible for e-government, ICT security and satellites, and will incorporate the Myanmar Computer Emergency Response Team (MMCERT), the primary national-level government entity monitoring and reporting cyber-security incidents. Myanma Post and MPT are the two operators. MPT is a Government-owned mobile network operator and provider of fixed line Internet and voice services. As part of the World Bank’s Telecommunications Sector Reform Project, it is undergoing a process of corporatisation. In July 2014 MPT announced a joint operations agreement with Japan’s KDDI Summit Global Myanmar Co. Ltd. (KSGM). KSGM is a subsidiary of a joint venture between Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI and Sumitomo Corporation. The joint operations agreement is focused on upgrading existing telecommunications infrastructure, enhancing customer service, and reorganising business processes for MPT 52. 49 Ibid. Ibid. 51 See World Bank “Project Appraisal Document On a Proposed Credit in the Amount of SDR 20.60 Million ($31.5 Million Equivalent) to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar for a Telecommunications Sector Reform Project” (January 2014), p3. 52 KDDI Corporation, “Entering the Telecommunications Business in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar” (July 2014). 50 CHAPTER 2: ICT GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS, POLICIES & LEGAL FRAMEWORK 57 2