Burma: Norwegian telecoms group Telenor leaves country following coup
The Norwegian group Telenor is withdrawing from Burma after the military coup this year.
© Khin Maung Win / AP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The Norwegian telecommunications group was one of the main operators in Burma.
Telenor announced this Thursday, July 8 the sale, for 105 million dollars, of its subsidiary in this country, a consequence of the military coup.
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The situation in Burma in recent months has become increasingly difficult for Telenor for reasons of personal safety, regulation and compliance
" with the rules, announced the managing director, Sigve Brekke.
"
We have evaluated all the options and we believe that a sale of the company is the best possible solution in this situation,
" he added in a statement.
Resale to a group more inclined to work with the junta
The acquirer of Telenor Myanmar, which is very profitable with around 18 million subscribers in Burma, is the Lebanese financial company M1 Group. The latter will pay 105 million dollars, of which more than half (55 million) spread over five years. Co-founded by billionaire and ex-Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Azmi Mikati and his brother, M1 is on the blacklist established by the Burma Campaign UK movement, which identifies international companies involved in business with the Burma military. The operation has yet to be approved by the Burmese authorities.
According to a 2019 report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, M1 owns shares in Irrawaddy Towers Asset Holding, a company that leases telecom towers from MEC, a telecommunications operator owned by the military.
“
In the current situation, it has not been possible for Telenor to conduct an ordinary sales process
,” said the Norwegian operator.
In May, Telenor completely depreciated its Burmese subsidiary, reducing its value from 6.5 billion crowns (650 million euros) to zero, due to the deterioration of the situation, three months after a military putsch in this country of 'South East Asia.
Numerous internet failures
Arguing of fraud in legislative elections largely won in November by her party, the Burmese army ousted civilian head of government Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1 in a coup that sparked harshly repressed protests .
The putsch also increased tensions between the military and some of the many ethnic groups that make up the country, where
internet connections and data flows
have at times been seriously disrupted to prevent the protest from being organized and the population from getting information. .
►Also read: Burma: self-defense militias defy the army, the civilian population threatened
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