While the mobile and online revolutions have helped spur economic and social development in most countries, the lack of it in Myanmar is having an impact as it tries to pull itself out of years of economic stagnation.
Reporter: Jared Ferrie
Speakers: Ko Thet, juice seller; Sigve Brekke, regional head of Norwegian firm Telenor
FERRIE: Ko Thet hopes the bells attached to his sugarcane grinder will attract the attention of people passing by this intersection in downtown Yangon. The bells are attached to a wheel he turns, which squeezes juice out of sugarcane stalks. He says he makes between 20 and 40 dollars a day selling the juice.
Like most people in Myanmar, Ko Thet's meagre income doesn't allow him many luxuries. But he has been able to scrape together enough money to buy a phone and secure a SIM card - a relatively rare commodity here.
KO THET: (translation) The handset was about $40 and the SIM card was about 200,000 kyats.
FERRIE: That's about 230 US dollars - a fortune for Ko Thet who is paying off his SIM card in installments.
Myanmar has thus far missed out on the telecommunications revolution that spurred social change and economic growth throughout the world. Telecoms experts say that Myanmar is last remaining untapped market. Even North Korea is more connected they say.
The former military government neglected the sector, building only a skeleton network that supported a small number of subscribers. For a long time, extraordinarily high prices made mobile phones a luxury item for the rich. When they were introduced a decade ago, SIM cards sold for $7,000.
They gradually fell to around $200. But compared with neighbouring countries where cards cost only a couple dollars, the prices are still prohibitively high.
Part of the problem is that government companies still control the entire industry, according to Sigve Brekke.
BREKKE: There is only one operator with very expensive services, and of course that's the reason also that so few people can afford. So I think when, you know, open up with two new licences you'll see an explosion, as you have seen in other markets.
FERRIE: Brekke is the regional head of Norwegian firm Telenor, which is one of the biggest telecoms companies in the world. Along with 11 other bidders, Telenor is intent on securing one of two licences to begin operating here. It's part of the reform process Myanmar started two years ago. The country's new quasi-civilian government hopes a connected population will contribute to economic growth. And there's evidence that it has in other countries, according to Brekke.
BREKKE: We asked London School of Economics to look at what is the relationship between mobile penetration and GDP growth, and we found a very close relationship. So if you are able to actually grow the mobile penetration, for every 10 per cent you grow, you grow your GDP with one to two per cent.
That's a significant jump for Myanmar. Decades of isolation and mismanagement by successive military regimes have left it the poorest country in Asia, except for Afghanistan. Mobile penetration is estimated to be between four and eight percent, compared with neighbouring Thailand where people often have more than one SIM card and penetration is more than 100 per cent.
Myanmar's government is shooting for 80 per cent penetration by 2015. Telenor says it can roll out a network in six months if it wins the bid, which will be announced June 27. In the meantime, the government has begun releasing monthly batches of $2 SIM cards. But demand far exceeds supply, and the cards are being distributed through a lottery system.
Ko Thet says he's hoping to win a couple cards in the upcoming lotteries.
KO THET: (translation) He says he is happy. He has plan to buy two more SIM cards. He want to give to his nephew and also his family so that he can make connections more easier. But he will have to see whether this new SIM card has a good connection or not. If there is a good connection he will be very happy.
FERRIE: For Ko Thet, like most people in Myanmar, connecting with family members depends on luck of the draw for now.
For Radio Australia, I'm Jared Ferrie in Yangon.
