Myanmar Media Historically and the Challenges of Transition 31 business partners retained control over the broadcast sector. Significant restrictions continued to limit artistic freedoms. The telecommunications sector was stagnant, with exorbitant prices for SIM cards and very little infrastructural development. The internet was less regulated than other media in the country, but access was limited to less than one per cent of the population (Crouch 2016). It is not surprising that media are now functioning as agents of change, reflecting internal divisions within the country, but their roles remain varied. The military and its former foes in the NLDled government are struggling to define new power relationships and to change the old ways of doing things, but have challenged many media’s efforts to act as agents of restraint, and have in many ways encouraged media to act as agents of stability, reproducing persistent old patterns and habits. At the same time, other media resist change as agents of stability, reproducing persistent old habits and patterns. And while new opportunities are opening up for Myanmar media, there remain significant barriers to their development as agents of restraint and change, independent of state and corporate interests. These include problematic laws, government control of infrastructure, economic challenges, bureaucratic hurdles, restricted access to information, and the rise of online bullying and hate speech. Much of this has been exacerbated by the meteoric nature of recent change, perhaps most obvious in the rapid growth in telecommunications in the country. Growth in Telecommunications In 2011 only one per cent of the population was online, but by 2015 Myanmar was the fourth fastest growing telecommunications market in the world (Trautwein 2015). By 2016 the telecommunications sector was the single most important draw for foreign direct investment in the country, raising concerns about other sectors of the economy (Samarajiva 2016). Myanmar was in 2017 considered the fastestgrowing smartphone society in the world — an estimated 95 per cent of the population has access to mobile services and 85 per cent of the phones they are using are smartphones (Heijmans 2017). These figures, however, are based on the number of SIM cards purchased. The number 01 ch1-MyanmarMediaIT-5P.indd 31 8/4/19 10:29 am