The winners of a six-month race that drew 91 expressions of interest to operate in Myanmar are scheduled to be announced today. Only 11 remain in the bidding groups, including SingTel, billionaire George Soros, Norway’s Telenor ASA and France Telecom SA amongst them.

SingTel taps highly prized market
Myanmar’s contest for two telecommunications licenses has attracted bidders from around the globe seeking a foothold in one of the last remaining untapped markets, where only one in 10 people in the country of 64 million people, has a mobile phone. The two licenses will allow carriers to build and operate a nationwide wireless network in the country for 15 years.

The licenses are among the biggest prizes for foreign companies since Myanmar President Thein Sein moved to allow greater political and economic freedom after taking power in
2011.
 
Myanmar plans to boost telecom coverage to as much as 80% of the country by 2016. The country had 5.44 million mobile-phone subscribers as of December, equivalent to a 9% penetration rate, compared to 70% in Cambodia, 87% in Laos and more than 100% in Thailand., the government said in January. About 1.3% of the population has access to fixed-phone lines and 0.03% has broadband Internet. (Bloomberg)

SingTel, which is bidding with KBZ Group and Myanmar Telephone Co, said in an 11 June statement that it would build a mobile network covering 95 percent of the country’s population within 36 months. SingTel has 468 million mobile-phone customers in countries including India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
 
SingTel was back trading above the $3.60 mark yesterday after rising 0.8%. The stock had traded under the level amid the recent broad market sell-down which saw the STI tumble 3.4% in a week while SingTel fell 2.4%.
 
Macquarie Equities Research has an Outperform rating on SingTel with 12-month target price of $4.22.

Source: Macquarie Research - 27 Jun 2013