A2: အင်တာနက် အသံးF ြပMရန် လက်လမ 4 ်းမ4ီမ, အတားအဆီး ြဖစ်ေလာက်သည့်တင ိF ေ ် အာင် ေစျး\ကီးလွန်းသလား သိမဟF F ့ တ် 0 မ4တ ် ပထဝီအေနအထား၊ လNမ,ေရးY4င ့် အြခားအေDကာင်းအရာများေDကာင့် လNဥးီ ေရ တစ်ပိFငး် တစ်စသည် လက်လမ 4 ်းမ4ီမ, ြပင်ပေရာက်ေနပါသလား။ (၀-၃ မ4တ)် A2: Is access to the internet prohibitively expensive or beyond the reach of certain segments of the population for geographical, social, or other reasons? (0–3 points) Score Change: The score declined from 1 to 0 as the doubling of data prices and increases to the SIM card purchase tax severely limited internet affordability. The cost of internet access sharply increased for most users during the coverage period. Price increases imposed by the military—combined with rampant inflation,16 an 18 percent contraction of the economy, and major postcoup unemployment17—have forced poorer people in Myanmar to stop using the internet altogether. Some have sold their devices to pay for basic needs.18 The military-controlled MoTC ordered all mobile service providers to double their data prices in December 2021.19 The MoTC also imposed a purchase tax of 20,000 kyat ($11) on SIM card sales in January 2022, tripled telecommunications firms’ corporate taxes to 15 percent,20 and created a 6,000-kyat ($3) tax for mandatory international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) registration.21 The military said that the price increases were necessary to reduce the “effects triggered by extreme use of internet services on the employment of the people and mental sufferings of new generation students.”22 Then independent mobile service providers reported that they did not request these increases.23 Users in large urban areas can access fixed-line and wireless broadband, which halved in price between 0 2018 and 2021.24 As of March 2022, the average fixed-line connection cost 47,000 kyat ($25.96) per month, with the cheapest connection costing 25,000 kyat ($13.80).25 Given the disparities in access to broadband (see A1 and A2), poorer and rural internet users, already lacking computers and struggling with the country’s rapid postcoup financial downturn,26 will have experienced far greater increases in internet-access costs than richer urban users. In 2018, before the coup, the MoTC established a Universal Service Fund (USF), funded by a 2 percent tax on telecommunications providers.27 The USF was meant to address regional infrastructural gaps and connect 99 percent of the population to telecommunications services by 2022.28 The USF’s initial phase started in 202029 but was suspended due to the 2021 coup.30 In June 2020, the civilian government diverted USF funding to pay for a biometric database of mobile subscribers (see C4),31 and the USF is now spent on military needs.32 The gender digital divide remains. According to ITU estimates, which were the most recent available, only 19 percent of women have internet access as of 2017, compared to 29 percent of men.33 For women, barriers to owning and using a mobile phone to access the internet include perceived lack of relevance, high costs, and insufficient literacy skills.34 ် ပ်မ/ - ြမန်မာ2ိင 4 င ် ံ Free Expression Myanmar (FEM) and Freedom House - Freedom of the Net: Myanmar - အင်တာနက်ေပ*တွင် လွတလ