Ground Report on Process and Requirements for Obtaining Mobile Internet The conditions for access to Myanmar’s mobile network are changing rapidly. In early 2012, the Myanmar Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraph (MPT) reduced the price of SIM cards from approximately $500 to approximately $250.48 This new price tracks to the government’s growing focus on access as an engine for economic growth, but fails to bridge the wide digital divide a Myanmar national earning the average salary must cross to reach the vast amounts of information available on the Internet.49 The account below narrates this experience and describes the steps required and observations in detail. Unless specified otherwise, all amounts have been approximated to the United States Dollar ($USD). 48 Hpyo Wai Tha, “Burmese SIM Card Price Slashed by Half,” The Irrawaddy, March 6, 2012, http://www2.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art id=23158. 49 2008 State Department Human Rights Report on Myanmar listed between $0.19 and $0.75/day as average wages for daily workers. See http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eap/119035.htm. This window was tentatively corroborated by those on the ground. The CIA World Factbook estimates that 32 percent of the Myanmar population live in Poverty. See https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bm.html. 16