5/22/22, 12:03 AM Myanmar: Freedom on the Net 2021 Country Report | Freedom House Burma reporter received a three-year sentence in May 2021 in connection with his coverage of protests (see C3). Physical violence and torture have become widespread in detention, and disappearances of or public attacks on prominent social media users served as additional deterrents to the expression of dissent online (see C7). A. Obstacles to Access A1 0-6 pts Do infrastructural limitations restrict access to the internet or the speed and quality of internet connections? 2/6 Access to the internet continued to improve during the coverage period, until the February 2021 coup. As of 2021, 43 percent of the population used the internet, an increase of two and a half million people since the beginning of 2020. 1 The speed and quality of service have increased in recent years due to the launch of fourth-generation (4G) mobile networks in 2017, 2 and international bandwidth reached 2,036 Gbps in 2020. 3 However, penetration overall remains lower than average for the Asia-Pacific region, 4 and internet speeds are slower than average, particularly for fixed-line connections. 5 The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) Universal Service Strategy for Myanmar 2018–22 aimed to reach 95 percent of the population with mobile broadband services and 99 percent of the population with basic mobile voice services by 2022. 6 At the end of the coverage period, achieving this goal appeared unlikely, especially in light of the coup. Private fixed-line internet connections are rare, and while fixed-line speeds increased during the coverage period, they remain slower than mobile connections. 7 In 2020, just 0.5 percent of internet subscribers used fixed lines, a number that had not changed for five years. 8 Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the number of wireless broadband devices has grown in urban areas, as the need to work from home has increased. 9 The number of mobile connections has also continued to grow, increasing to 69 million in January 2021, for a penetration rate of 127 percent. 10 Despite this growth, the share of the population with a mobile connection is lower than in neighboring countries. 11 Just over 50 percent of residents have mobile connections, though many people have multiple SIM cards, accounting for the nominally high penetration rate. 12 Infrastructure development continues to be hampered by flooding, unreliable electricity, an inefficient bureaucracy, and private- and public-sector corruption. 13 New international sanctions adopted in the wake of the military’s 2017 campaign against the Rohingya population have affected the export of telecommunications equipment to Myanmar, although it is unclear whether or how the sanctions have obstructed infrastructure development in particular. 14 Existing infrastructure has also been damaged by a range of problems such as rodents, car accidents, and construction. 15 A2 0-3 pts Is access to the internet prohibitively expensive or beyond the reach of certain segments of the population for geographical, social, or other reasons? https://freedomhouse.org/country/myanmar/freedom-net/2021 TOP 1/3 3/28