Chinese technology capable of mass surveillance 'installed' by Myanmar internet company funded by UK — Finance Uncovered
5/22/25, 11:56 AM
Myanmar's March earthquake (Magdalena Chodownik/Anadolu, Getty Images)
‘Bad for the people’
FU and MN’s findings are likely to present a quandary for the governments of the UK,
Norway and Denmark, all of which own shares in Frontiir. Their funding has been crucial in
driving its rapid growth to become one of the largest ISPs in Myanmar, providing internet
services to millions of people through its Myanmar Net brand.
A spokesperson for Frontiir denied that it had ever “built, planned, or designed anything
related to surveillance” on its network in a statement sent to FU, saying any such claims
were “completely false.”
It has also told its European investors that “its network has never been used by the
Myanmar government to intercept or decrypt communication”.
The UK's development fund, British International Investments (BII), has invested $26
million into Frontiir’s Singapore parent company. Norfund also invested 26.9 million
Norwegian krone ($3 million) and Denmark’s IFU spent 70.1 million Danish krone ($10.5
million) on Frontiir shares.
It is believed that the funds’ equity stakes are now worth less than the sums invested. This
means that were they to divest, they would make a loss.
All of the investments have been made since 2019 — after the UK, Norway and the European
Union imposed sanctions barring their companies from providing internet surveillance or
equipment to Myanmar authorities.
Pressed about FU and MN’s findings, BII, Norfund and IFU said they had received
assurances from Frontiir that its network has never been used by Myanmar authorities to
intercept or decrypt communications. All of them emphasized that Frontiir was a key
provider of low-cost internet services, saying they had no plans to sell their shares.
“Divesting our stake in Frontiir would be bad for the company and bad for the people in
Myanmar,” said a spokesman for BII.
https://www.financeuncovered.org/stories/british-norwegian-and-danis…litary-run-myanmar-which-hosts-notorious-chinese-surveillance-system
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