O’Brien and Soros team up in Burma mobile licence bid

Denis O’Brien is teaming up with billionaire investor George Soros in a bid to secure a telecommunications licence in Burma.

The south-east Asian country’s government is offering two licences in a bid to double the number of mobile network operators in its market.

Mr O’Brien’s Jamaican-based telecommunications business, Digicel — which has built up a leading presence in 30 developing economies in the past 12 years — is heading the consortium. The consortium also includes Mr Soros’s private investment vehicle, Quantum Strategic Partners and YSH Finance, an investment company led by Burmese businessman, Serge Pun, who is recognised as being one of the country’s most prominent entrepreneurs.

Burma currently has an economy growing at a rate of more than 5% per year, but mobile phone penetration of below 10%; comfortably less than many other emergingeconomies.

The tender process for the two licences is at a very early stage, so ultimate timelines and potential bid details are unknown.

The Digicel-led consortium’s submission this week ranks as a ‘pre-qualification application’.

It is thought both licences will attract much interest.

Vodafone has also announced that it has teamed up with China Mobile — currently ranked as the world’s largest mobile network operator, boasting the largest subscriber base with over 720m users — to launch a preliminary application for a licence, saying Burma will be “an important market for the global mobile industry”.

The Digicel/Soros consortium has also been talking up the Burma market, Denis O’Brien saying the grouping is “committed to rolling out a world-class telecommunications network”.

“Digicel has been successful in entering recently liberalised markets and driving teledensity in under-served countries across the globe,” Mr O’Brien added.

Mr Soros said the liberalisation of the telecommunications market in Burma will serve as “an important economic stimulus for the country”; while Serge Pun said the heads of consortium share a common objective “to offer affordable, first-class communications to the people of Myanmar”.

He added: “We believe we are uniquely placed to deliver this vision.”