he Business Insights department recently completed a study about the broadband internet market in Myanmar and the facts presented in this article are largely based on its findings. For more information about the study itself, read the study report.

#1 Mobile internet is growing at a 100% rate

Mobile internet has been in its infancy until very recently. The price of a SIM card in 2012 was $250 and before that it was $2000. Cell phone penetration was around 7% in 2012, with less than 25% of these users being data subscribers.

In 2014, the game changed radically. Following one of the biggest tenders in the telecom history in 2013, Norway’s Telenor and Qatar’s Ooredoo were awarded 15-years licenses to operate their own telecommunication networks across Myanmar. In September 2014, they both launched their commercial offers, with SIM cards at $2 and top-up prepaid cards allowing for cheap voice, SMS and data communications.

This triggered an unprecedented growth rate in internet penetration. In July 2015, 10 months after their commercial launch, Telenor and Ooredoo combined 15 million subscribers with around 60% of them using mobile data. Added up to the data subscribers of the formerly-monopolistic operator MPT, the total number of internet users is now 17 million, or 32% internet penetration. It has grown at a 100% yearly rate for the last 18 months.

#2 International bandwidth per capita is booming

The international bandwidth is a key indicator to assess the connectivity of a country. It is measured in Gigabit per seconds (Gbps); it indicates the maximum amount of data that can be sent from or received by a country in one second, and consequently how fast internet users inside a given country can access international content.

In 2012, Myanmar’s international bandwidth was below 15 Gbps. This represents 0.3 Kbps per capita, a regional lowest (Laos had 0.4, Cambodia 0.8 and Vietnam 5.2; Singapore was at 258).

In 2015, as more submarine and cross-border cables are being connected, the bandwidth has steadily increased to about 70 Gbps (1.3 kbps per capita). The connection to the SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable is one of the many projects currently being implemented for Myanmar; it is planned to bring an additional 100 Gbps by December 2016. In addition to this, Telenor and Ooredoo are leading their own cross-border projects and many new broadband players are looking to enter the market armed with their own international gateways, increasing the overall broadband.

#3 Internet budgets are still very low

The arrival of Telenor and Ooredoo and the subsequent new affordability of internet dramatically decreased the entry price to become an internet user. Today, 66% internet users spend less than $12 a month on internet. The operators charge by the Mb from a prepaid balance. It is possible to buy data packs; however, research shows that even the users who use a lot of data are reluctant to purchase packages.

#4 Fixed broadband connection remain mostly unaffordable

One thing has not changed a lot in the previous years: broadband internet access has remained very rare and very few households can afford it in Myanmar. There is less than 1 broadband connection for 1,000 people in all of Myanmar. Some regions, only reachable by expensive satellite internet, have less than 1 for 10,000.

Fixed lines start at around $50 dollars per month (for an infinitesimal speed) with additional setup costs and annual fees, only for those lucky enough to be in a covered area. The current minimum wage is under $3 today so it is not likely that most will have a broadband connection in the near future. Prices have been known to decrease by approximately 10% every year.

There are currently 5 ISPs in Myanmar, some with just a handful of customers, many having 80% or more of business subscribers. They use a wide array of technologies, adapting to the local constraints and existing infrastructures: ADSL, Fiber, WIMAX, and Satellite… Many more ISPs are prone to enter the market in the following months. Most of them say they do not fear competition as the market is largely untapped for now. However, none has serious plans to cover the countryside in the near future.

#5 Facebook is the #1 reason people go online

Our research indicates that 96% internet users in Myanmar use social media. Facebook is the most popular with 93% using it, followed by Viber (80%). Twitter is at 6%. Only 54% of our respondents declare using emails.

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