Irrawaddy – Violet Cho : Members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association’s (USDA) may apply for cellular phone licenses as government officials, according to sources.The Myanmar Posts and Telecommunication (MPT) plans to issue 70,000 GMS telephone licenses in Burma.
About 200 to 300 GSM sim cards are being licensed every day in Burma, according to the Pyi Myanmar Journal.
An MPT official said the agency has issued about 10,000 GSM sim cards since the beginning of the year.
According to a USDA member in Rangoon, the Burmese military authorities will allow USDA members who are working at the township level in Rangoon to apply for cell phone licenses. In Mandalay, the authorities will allow city section organizers to apply for military-authorized phone licenses.
The process to apply for a cell phone license is becoming easier in Burma, and even ordinary citizens can afford to pay about 100,000 kyat can receive a recommendation letter from local authorities to apply for a license.
Most people who apply with a recommendation letter will receive a cell phone license, he said.
GSM telephones prices in Burma have fallen recently after the government decision to authorize more licenses. The official license fee for a GMS cell phone from MPT is 1.55 million kyat (US $1,226).
Most government service workers can not afford the cost. The average daily income in Burma is less than $1 per day.
Before the more liberal policy, a cell phone license cost about 2.8 million kyat ($2,289). Prices are now about 1.7 million kyat ($1,390), according to Rangoon businessmen.
“Many USDA members apply for a phone license and sell it for extra income,” said a USDA member.
The government is expanding the telecommunication service in the country. Two Chinese telecommunications companies, Alcatel Sanghai Bell Co and ZTE (Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited), are working on GMS projects, constructing cell phone towers in Rangoon and Mandalay.
There were an estimated 200,000 mobile phones in Burma in 2006; in 2005, the country had about 500,000 land line telephones.
The USDA, a paramilitary organization, was used to intimidate protesters during the 2007 demonstrations.
