YANGON — Myanmar's outgoing government has granted a fourth telecom licence to a joint venture owned by a Vietnamese operator and a local consortium that includes the military, state media reported on Saturday.
The deal comes days before the army-backed government is scheduled to cede power to a civilian administration led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory in elections last November.
Hanoi-based Viettel, run by the Vietnamese military, will own a 49% stake in the venture, with the rest going to 11 local firms and a company owned by the defence ministry, according to the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar.
"To give the public more choices in telecommunications and to increase the funds of the country, we carefully scrutinised and selected the fourth telecom operator of the country," the paper quoted presidential advisor Saw Oo as saying.
Viettel operates in eight markets spanning Asia, Latin America and Africa, according to its website. The company could not be reached for comment.
Until just a few years ago, strict censorship laws and exorbitant SIM cards sold by a state monopoly meant web access and mobile phones were a luxury few could afford. But the country is now awash with smartphones and home to a lively web culture after censorship was eased and two foreign firms, Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo, were granted telecom licences and began selling cheap phone cards in 2014.
The move was part of a broad array of political and economic reforms steered by a quasi-civilian government that ended outright military rule 2011 and loosened the army's grip on political rights, paving the way for the November elections.
But the military remains a mighty force in the impoverished country, with army-linked tycoons still pulling the purse strings in many lucrative industries, despite retaining spots on the US economic sanctions list.
The military is also guaranteed 25% of the seats in parliament and controls three significant ministries including defence.
Its stake in the telecoms deal is also likely to prove profitable and fuel existing concern that the military is racing to secure its financial clout ahead of the power transfer.