Key Facts - 6.7 percent of Myanmar’s population has landline and wireless Internet capable subscriptions.2 Some residents are likely to have multiple devices.3 - Only 5.1 percent of the country's 60 million inhabitants, or 3.06 million, have mobile service lines. Some subscriptions are shared.4 - Internet penetration is less than 1 percent5 and mobile subscription is approximately 2 percent, or 1.24 million subscriptions.6 - The majority of Internet access in Myanmar is obtained through Internet enabled mobile devices.7 - The United Nations International Telecommunications Union shows 0.9 percent of the population subscribing to landline service.8 - The government’s focus is on mobile Internet, with intentions to build out existing mobile and wireless networks with less emphasis on deploying fiber.9 - The average income in Myanmar is $60-70 per month.10 - The cost of acquiring and activating an average smartphone is $563.11 2 Conversation with in-country telecommunication experts (Myanmar Computer Federation). See e.g. Marc Einstein, “Myanmar: Asia’s wireless final frontier,” Telecomasia.net, June 15, 2011, http://www.telecomasia.net/blog/content/myanmar-asias-wireless-final-frontier. 4 See e.g. Kevin Kwang, “Regulation, infrastructure hinder Myanmar’s telecom ambitions,” ZDNet, Nov. 6, 2012, http://www.zdnet.com/regulation-infrastructure-hinder-myanmars-telecom-ambitions-7000006962/. 5 See http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/. 6 See http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/. The Asian Development Bank puts this figure at 3 percent. See Asian Development Bank, “Myanmar in Transition, Opportunities and Challenges,” August 2012, http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/pub/2012/myanmar-intransition.pdf. 7 Translation of local Myanmar newspaper 8 Note that the use of landlines may be significantly larger than the number of subscribers. In Yangon the team noted impromptu "phone booths.” Individuals with landline subscriptions or ‘access’ to an MPT street box would place phones connected to a jack in an adjacent building on the street. Passers-by could pay to place a call. A link to a photo is here. 9 Source, Myanmar Computer Federation 10 Conversation with in-country telecommunication experts. United Nations data suggests gross national income per capita as $380. See Myanmar, United Nations Statistics Division, http://data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=MYANMAR. Data from the U.S. State Department suggests income levels slightly over $100 per month for the typical resident. See Myanmar report, http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm#wrapper. For government employees, annual income appears to have risen since this data was collected. See Myo Thant, “Myanmar gov’t personnel given pay raises,” Mizzima News, March 14, 2012, http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-Myanmar/6765-Myanmar-govt-personnel-given-pay-raises.html. 11 According to our research detailed in this document (This does not include the recurring cost of data and voice service). 3 6