Exec Summ Myanmar, its people, and businesses. It is a forward-looking assessment that aims to contribute to preventing and minimising the sector’s negative impacts as well as strengthening and improving the sector’s positive impacts (See Chapter 1 for more detailed information on the purpose and methodology behind the SWIA). Key Actors in the ICT Sector Government of Myanmar As with other sectors in Myanmar, the Government departments overseeing the ICT sector are reliant on a small group of overworked civil servants. Few have the technical capacity to pursue the Government’s ambitious “e-agenda” of providing citizens with access to technology to help Myanmar accelerate its development and move from isolation to global connectivity and competition. The challenges of developing the sector are enormous – from planning the expansion of network infrastructure and services, to establishing appropriate technical standards for emerging platforms, to reinvigorating an education system for the 21st century. The ICT sector is innately interconnected, bringing with it a host of challenges in addressing international standards and international relations that are inherently foreign to a formerly long-isolated country. Development partners such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank are, however, supporting with technical assistance, as demonstrated by the transparent process for awarding the telecoms licences in 2013. Yet technical assistance is no substitute for Myanmar Government staff grappling with the day-to-day challenges themselves. This includes a legal framework that is not designed for the modern technological age, nor aligned with international standards that were of little interest to earlier military governments. The legacy from that era that is enshrined in laws intended to restrict communication and sits uneasily with a burgeoning sector that exists, in many ways, to do the opposite. The challenge of updating the policy and legal frameworks to keep pace with technological developments and stay in line with the Government’s ambitious reform programme is matched by the far less visible, but no less significant, challenge of reorienting both the authorities’ and people’s mindsets towards governance based on openness, transparency and accountability. This SWIA seeks to highlight the significant gaps in policy and laws that should be addressed as part of the Government’s policy and legal reform process. Companies in the ICT Sector As in other countries, there is great variability amongst the companies in the sector, from local start-ups to large multinationals. Unlike tech start-ups in other countries, small local companies have not often been exposed to key global debates in the sector, nor access to content in their own languages. The learning curve is therefore likely to be steep, not only in meeting expectations of international business partners, but also in understanding the need for and approach to key issues like protection of data and, importantly, international standards on responsible business. 10 PAGE \* EXECUTIVE SUMMARY