Digitalizing Myanmar: Connectivity Developments in Political Transitions – Andrea Calderaro dramatically limited the ability of national actors to take part in the consultation, and excluded most of the population from understanding and partaking in this telecom reform. As a result, twenty-one different parties—including international telecom companies (e.g. Ericson), mobile operators (e.g. Telenor, Ooredoo, KDD, and Orange), international NGOs (e.g. Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, LIRNEasia), local civil society organizations (e.g. MIDO), and foreign governments (namely the U.S. government)—submitted their policy recommendations.21 Submitted comments generally acknowledged Myanmar’s efforts to open a public consultation and make the development of a telecom law a more transparent and open procedure. Myanmar’s initiative is indeed no small feat. After years of an autocratic regime, this transparent and inclusive process opened up new spaces of dialogue between governments, citizens, and international companies. Moreover, development of the draft telecom law created an opportunity for parties to publicly commit to and position themselves within the Myanmar telecom reform discussion. This may be an opportunity to facilitate the eventual strengthening of collaborations among all actors, especially domestic ones, involved in this process. The debate on internet freedom in Myanmar has just begun, and this is an important first step in developing cooperation for future policy debates on telecom in the country. b) Analysing the Telecom Law With the release of the draft version of this law, the government has expressed its goals of establishing a fair, open, and transparent national telecom market. The process has so far been successful at creating open and transparent dialogue. In its current version, the law sets rules concerning five key issues: 21 Republic of the Union of Myanmar. “Public Consultation Issued by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.” Retrieved from http://www.vdb-loi.com/vdb/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1-MCIT-Public-Consultation-Document11113.pdf 12