EXCLUSIVE Qatar’s Ooredoo to sell Myanmar unit to Singapore firm-sources

Males have a look at the emblem of Qatar Telecom Ooredoo, previously Qatar Telecom Qtel, as they stroll previous the corporate’s head workplace in Doha March 16, 2013. REUTERS/Fadi Al-Assaad

SINGAPORE, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Qatari telecommunications firm Ooredoo (ORDS.QA) plans to promote its Myanmar operations to Singapore-headquartered expertise agency The One Matrix Ventures (TOMV), based on three folks with direct information of the matter.

Ooredoo is the final majority foreign-owned telecoms firm in Myanmar since a rush to exit after final 12 months’s army coup. Norway’s Telenor (TEL.OL) withdrew from the nation in March this 12 months in a departure mired in issue.

The sources mentioned that TOMV is in talks with a number of potential companions in Myanmar to hitch the deal to assist safe regulatory approval, with out offering additional particulars.

TOMV, which is targeted on telecoms infrastructure and expertise, was based and is headed by Myanmar businessman Myo Myint Ohn, who has additionally led Singapore telecommunications agency Campana Group.

One of many sources mentioned that Doha-based Ooredoo had knowledgeable Myanmar’s Posts and Telecommunications Division (PTD), the nation’s regulator, of its intention to promote its operations to Myo Myint Ohn however not but requested for official approval.

The deal relies on receiving regulatory approval, the folks with information of the matter mentioned.

The folks, who declined to be named on account of confidentiality constraints, didn’t put a worth on the dimensions of the potential sale.

Reuters reported in July, citing sources, that Ooredoo had entered talks to promote is Myanmar operations. learn extra

Ooredoo didn’t reply to a request for remark.

TOMV govt director Alan Sinfield advised Reuters he was not able to remark.

Moe Kyaw Soe, deputy everlasting secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications and a spokesperson for PTD, mentioned he had no data on the problem.

The telecoms sector in Myanmar has confronted elevated strain because the army seized energy in 2021, after beforehand having been one in all Asia’s fastest-growing markets. Cellular information stays shut down in a part of the nation, after nationwide restrictions on the web all through 2021.

Regulators blocked in 2021 a deal for Telenor to promote its Myanmar operations to Lebanese funding agency M1 Group, till Myanmar agency Shwe Byain Phyu was introduced in as a majority proprietor.

Telenor advised Reuters in 2021 it needed to promote its operations to keep away from European Union sanctions after “continued strain” from the junta to activate intercept surveillance expertise.

Reuters reported in July 2021 {that a} confidential PTD order had been issued banning senior international telecoms executives from leaving the nation with out permission. The journey ban was adopted by a second order instructing telecoms corporations to totally activate the intercept.

Different telecoms service suppliers within the nation are MPT, a big state-backed operator, with Japan’s KDDI and Sumitomo Company as buyers, and Mytel, a enterprise between Myanmar’s military and Viettel, owned by Vietnam’s defence ministry.

Enhancing by Ed Davies and David Evans

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.