Cybertech’s Teleport doubled delivery speeds in 2003 from 256Kbps to 512Kbps.36 The connection to SEA-ME-WE3 is only 2 Mbps with a cable landing station and international gateway switch in Yangon to be linked with terrestrial fiber optic transmission system. Given Myanmar’s lack of international submarine cable capacity, satellite communications remain crucial for international services. Myanmar's military government has signed satellite telecommunications deals with firms from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore for mobile phone roaming and cargo vessel tracking services. ICTs Myanmar maybe short of ICTs but not short of laws. Strategic planning for ICT development efforts started with the promulgation of the Myanmar Computer Science Development Law in 1996. The law opened the way in 1998 for the formation of the Myanmar Computer Science Development Council, the Myanmar Computer Federation, the Myanmar Computer Professional Association, the Myanmar Computer Industry Association and the Myanmar Computer Enthusiast Association. An e-National Task Force was formed in 2002, the same year that the Computer Science Development Council developed a draft ICT master plan. Much of Myanmar’s ICT vision is couched and packaged in a language that stresses defending national sovereignty from the predations of ‘Western powers’.37 In 2000 Myanmar signed the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement and compliance with its provisions spurred investment in the telecoms sector,38 although the real driver may have been the vast sums of money to be made through reselling GSM handsets and subscriptions on the black market as demand far outstrips supply. An Electronic Transaction Law was promulgated in 2004 to assist e-government and e-commerce development, but few companies in Myanmar have facilities for online transactions. Those that do have websites must receive orders, reservations and inquiries through their xyz@mptmail.net.mm email address or offline orders by fax from their foreign-based affiliate.39 As part of the ICT master plan to stimulate the development of ICT applications and industry in Myanmar, the government has emphasized ICT Parks and built two. One is the Myanmar ICT Park which opened in Yangon in January 2002 at an estimated cost of some 10 million US dollars and is occupied by about two dozen IT companies doing software development and data processing and two Japan-Myanmar e-learning 36 The activation fee for broadband wireless access is 1.95 million Kyat for an individual account and 2.2 million Kyat for corporate subscribers. Monthly fee for individual users ranges from 28,000-76,000 Kyat and for corporate users 120,000-200,000 Kyat. (The Myanmar Times, 28 April – 4 May 2003) 37 ‘Now, some Western powers are taking full advantage of technological gap in order to widen the gap of development and wealth and they are resorting to all the possible ways and means to get the developing countries under their thumb. Only if a developing nation like Myanmar is able to make progress in science and technology, it can polish national prestige and integrity and safeguard the sovereignty.’ Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 31 August 2004, http://www.mofa.gov.mm/news/aug31_04_tue2.html 38 The Framework Agreement has six focus areas: (1) to develop ICT infrastructure, (2) to enact sufficient ICT laws, (3) to use ICT effectively in education, (4) to widely use ICT application in government and private businesses, (5) to allow ICT to immerge as one of the state economic sectors and (6) to liberalize ICT product services and investments. 39 A major problem everywhere for companies starting online transactions, quite separately from the collecting payments and fulfilling deliveries, is how to authenticate the status of an overseas buyer.