As the India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee met for the 8th time last month in India, India offered to help Myanmar with its 5G systems.  

The Offer 

Siddharth Mahajan, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce, told the reporters, "In the field of 5G, we have offered to help Myanmar in setting up their 5G systems," as he addressed the reporters. 

India holds the record of completing its coverage of 5G in just 21 months including around 98% of all districts and 90% of all villages.    

Myanmar’s 5G Update

Following the 2021 coup d'état, Myanmar’s telecom sector has experienced major shifts. Telenor divested its Telenor Myanmar Operations and sold it to a joint venture owned by Lebanese M1 Group and Shwe Byain Phyu. The company officially rebranded itself as ATOM on 8 June 2022. 

In an interview, a year ago, with BETV, ATOM’s CEO Muhammad Ziaullah Siddiqui said, “Our objective is before the end of the year we should have 5G in the country”. 

Myanmar India Trade 

Myanmar is the 7th largest trading partner of India within ASEAN. The total bilateral trade in 2023-24 was 1.75 USD Bn.

Prospects

However, it remains to be seen whether this ambitious goal can be achieved given the challenges the country faces in terms of political stability and infrastructure development.