Digitalizing Myanmar: Connectivity Developments in Political Transitions – Andrea Calderaro As result, all Asian companies and companies biding in partnership with local partners did not gain sufficient points. The two new mobile phone licenses were eventually awarded to the Qatari company Ooredoo and the Norwegian company Telenor. Ooredoo, formerly Qatar Telecom (Qtel), is a state-controlled mobile company that holds a monopoly on the mobile sector in Qatar. The Ooredoo Group also controls the main mobile operators in several other Middle Eastern companies including Kuwait (Wataniya), Oman (Nawras), Tunisia (Tunisiana), Palestine (Wataniya), Maldives (Ooredoo), and Iraq (Asiacell). Algeria it is also transferring from its former national mobile operator Nedjma to Ooredoo Algeria, and in Asia Ooredoo is primarily active in Indonesia (Indosat).5 Unlike Ooredoo, the Norwegian state-controlled Telenor already controls mobile operators across Southeast Asia, and is also active throughout Europe.6 Together, Ooredoo and Telenor have committed to connect more than 90% of Myanmar over the next five years. Despite the common commitment to expand connectivity to most of the country, their mission in Myanmar diverges in several other aspects, according to interviews conducted with the Ooredoo and Telenor CEOs.7 Ooredoo has invested fifteen billion dollars in Myanmar, promising to develop a 4G high speed data transferring infrastructure. Telenor, however, has invested three billion dollars, aiming to develop a mostly 2G voice infrastructure in rural areas and a more geographically limited 3G data infrastructure covering mostly urban areas. Given the high resources invested, Ooredoo is also extensively engaged in campaigns to enhance the development of local telecommunications knowledge. By sponsoring the organization of public events 5 Ooredoo. “Who We Are.” http://www.ooredoo.com/en/company/who-we-are/our-globalteam/ooredoo-qatar.html 6 In Southeast Asia, Telenor controls operators in Bangladesh (Grameenphone), India (Uninor), Thailand (DTac) and Malaysia (DiGi). Telenor is also active in Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, and in the Balkan area, operating as Globul in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. http://www.telenor.com/aboutus/global-presence/ 7 Interviews to Ross Cormark (Ooredoo) and Petter Furberg (Telenor) consisted of semi-structured interviews conducted in both companies’ headquarters in Yangon in February 2014. 7