Myanmar’s little-known fourth mobile operator, state-backed MecTel, has reduced voice and data rates to stay competitive with its rivals, which have slashed prices since the beginning of the year, industry website mobileworldlive.com reported on 20 August quoting local media.
A source familiar with the country’s business dealings told Mobile World Live that the operator is part of Myanmar Economic Corp (MEC), which is controlled by the military and has interests in many industry sectors.
The operator, which reportedly started offering mobile services in 2013, has quietly expanded its user base to 3.8 million
MecTel recently cut prices sharply, with on-net calls dropping to MMK21 (1.6 cents) per minute, off-net calls cut to MMK22 per minute and 1MB of data priced at MMK6 (less than half a cent). Its call rates were previously MMK50 per minute.
Last month incumbent Myanmar Posts & Telecommunications (MPT) reduced the price of voice calls from MMK35 (2.7 cents) to MMK23 (1.8 cents) a minute, putting pressure on its two foreign rivals Ooredoo and Telenor, which launched services a year ago.