5/22/22, 4:28 PM Telenor sale to military-linked consortium to be complete in mid-February | Myanmar NOW Users felt Telenor was the only mobile operator protecting their digital rights (EPA/EFE) Phone users feel betrayed by Telenor’s decision to sell to military-linked company It’s as if the Norwegian telecoms giant ‘is on the military’s side’ said one customer Read more In attempts to quell protests and armed resistance, the junta has carried out arbitrary arrests and mass killings of civilians, at times burning the bodies of its victims as well as entire villages suspected of providing support to the guerrilla forces. The Myanmar military junta has killed 1,513 people since staging a coup on February 1 last year and is still detaining nearly 9,000 prisoners across the country, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Following the Telenor Group’s divestment announcement last year, 464 civil society organisations sent an open letter to the Norwegian government demanding a halt to the sale; Norway’s minister for trade and industry Iselin Nybø responded that Telenor’s investment and operations were the responsibility of the company’s board. Later that month, hundreds of Myanmar civil society organisations filed a formal complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), accusing Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor of “irresponsible disengagement” from the country. Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 1988 democratic uprising, joined a rally protesting the military coup in downtown Yangon on February 7, 2021. (Myanmar Now) Telenor will transfer call data records for 18m subscribers to junta-linked company Activists fear Telenor’s transfer of personal data, which may get caught in European data protection law, will place them at risk of arrest by the junta Read more On January 30, on behalf of the 168 civil society organisations in Myanmar, the Norwegian Forum for Development and Environment sent a letter to the Norwegian prime minister demanding a stop to the sale of Telenor Myanmar to M1 Group and Shwe Byain Phyu, which would expose the data of more than 18 million users. “Metadata is sensitive data that can be used in warfare to wind up networks, make arrests and potentially target people for assault, detention, ill-treatment, and execution for simply fighting for freedom and basic human rights,” the letter said. https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/telenor-sale-to-military-linked-consortium-to-be-complete-in-mid-february 8/18