Mizzima News

New Delhi (Mizzima) - To meet mounting telecommunication needs, Burmese authorities have decided to provide 150,000 CDMA telephones to residents of Mandalay and Rangoon, the two largest cities in the country.

A document of the Burmese Telecommunication, Post and Telegraph Ministry available with Mizzima, states that authorities in three phases will install 50,000 CDMA 2000 1X (800 MHz) Wireless Local Loop (WLL) telephones each in the two cities.

The document, which will be soon made public, states that in the first phase, from September to November 2009, the ministry will provide 35,000 and 15,000 phones in Rangoon and Mandalay respectively through the divisional administration, which will have the responsibility of installing the telephones.

In the second phase, from February to April 2010, the same number of CDMA telephones will be provided to the two cities but in the third phase, from July to September 2010, Rangoon will receive 30,000 while Mandalay will receive 20,000 CDMA phones, accounting for 50,000 phones for Mandalay and 100,000 for Rangoon.

The document states, in the first phase US $ 2.096 million worth of equipment is to be donated by the Chinese company, Huawei Technologies, which will be used along with radio material produced by Yadanabon Teleport.

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or cordless telephones, are to be installed in place of the normal landline telephones, as the overall expenditure including installation and equipments is much less, according to the document.

The document said, while installing a normal landline on an average costs about Kyat 1.7 million (USD 1700), the new CDMA lines will cost an average of Kyat 650,000 (USD 650).

Besides, the document adds that the new CDMA phones will be in a prepaid top-up format.

In Burma, where the government controls all sectors including telecommunication, being a telephone subscriber is immensely difficult for most common people as prices are prohibitive.   

The Ministry’s document states there are currently 1.7 million telephone subscribers in Rangoon and about 40,000 in Mandalay.