3
consortium for the South East Asia–Middle East-Western Europe 5 cable and the AsiaAfrica-Europe-1 cable and will also jointly manage the AAE-1 cable landing station in
Ngwe Saung in 2016. 125 The addition of these international links, combined with further
over-land fibre optic cables extending into neighbouring countries Thailand, India, and
China will improve the capacity of Myanmar’s Internet. Private companies such as
Singapore’s Campana Group have announced plans to deploy additional submarine
cable. 126 Other firms are installing thousands of kilometres of terrestrial fibre cable inside
Myanmar, providing increased connectivity to major cities and last mile connectivity to
remote areas.
Currently, if many Internet users are streaming videos, downloading music, and posting
photos at the same time, there will be a ‘traffic jam’ as bandwidth is congested. As of
January 2013, Myanmar Computer Federation estimated Myanmar’s Internet backbone
bandwidth to be 14 gigabits per second.
Table 26: Comparison of Broadband and Mobile Download Speed across ASEAN
Country
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam
Cambodia
Brunei
Malaysia
Indonesia
Myanmar
Laos
Philippines
ASEAN Average
Average Broadband
Download Speed
121.8 mbps
19.9 mbps
18.5 mbps
9.1 mbps
7.7 mbps
7.0 mbps
6.5 mbps
6.5 mbps
5.8 mbps
3.6 mbps
20.64 mbps
Average Mobile Download
Speed
17.5 mbps
5.4 mbps
1.7 mbps
5.8 mbps
10.1 mbps
6.6 mbps
4.1 mbps
2.5 mbps
3.1 mbps
4.4 mbps
6.12 mbps
Source: Net Index, May 5th, 2015
Table 27: Case Study from the ASEAN Region – Vietnam
Part of Vietnam’s development strategy is to strengthen the information and
technology sector by spreading countrywide broadband information infrastructure,
through wireless broadband. 127 From 6.9 million subscribers of mobile data
communications in 2008, the figure was estimated to rise to 22.4 million in 2014.
The number of mobile subscribers will reach 23 million, giving the country tele-
125
Submarine Cable Networks, “China Unicom Announces to Land AAE-1 Cable in Myanmar” (November
2014) and “SEA-ME-WE 5 Consortium Concludes Construction Agreement” (March 2014).
126 Myanmar Times, “MYTHIC set to compete” (February 2015).
127
International Telecommunications Union “Wireless Broadband Masterplan for the Socialist
Republic of Viet Nam“ (October 2012).
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CHAPTER 3: SECTOR-LEVEL IMPACTS