Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company, faces strong opposition to its strategy of focusing on expansion in developing countries, as Myanmar’s ruthless military government made it as difficult as possible for Scandinavians to leave the country that was shattered after the February 1 coup. . According to a report released by Reuters and the Financial Times on November 9, after the military government stated that it would prefer to have at least one local company’s partial ownership, Telenor plans to withdraw from Myanmar by selling its telecommunications business to the Lebanese company M1 Group. . The security forces even stopped a top…
Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company, faces strong opposition to its strategy of focusing on expansion in developing countries, as Myanmar’s ruthless military government made it as difficult as possible for Scandinavians to leave the country that was shattered after the February 1 coup. .
According to reports Reuters with Financial Times According to news released on November 9th, Telenor planned to withdraw from Myanmar’s plan by selling its telecommunications business in Myanmar to the Lebanese company M1 Group. To a standstill.
Security forces even stopped a senior foreign executive in Telenor Myanmar at the airport to prevent the manager from traveling abroad.
Surveillance technology causes problems
Telenor is one of Myanmar’s largest foreign investors and announced in July that it would sell its local business to M1 Group for US$105 million. But after the military government put pressure on telecommunications and Internet companies to install surveillance technology, its withdrawal fell into trouble.
According to the report, the M1 Group, an investment company owned by the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s family, is in in-depth negotiations on establishing a partnership with at least one Myanmar company, Shwe Byain Phyu Group, which is engaged in oil and gem mining. interested. The latter company is associated with Mahar Yoma Public Company, which is part of a consortium that owns shares in Mytel, a Viettel joint venture owned by the Myanmar military and the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense.
M1 Group under review
However, according to insiders, the sale is undergoing a screening process by the military government because they regard the M1 Group as a “relative newcomer” to Myanmar and are reviewing whether the Lebanese company is “trustworthy”.
Telenor said in September that it was withdrawing from the country to avoid EU sanctions after “continuous pressure” by the military government to activate surveillance technology. The Myanmar military has shut down mobile data across the country and regions, making it more difficult for democracy activists to organize protests. It also issued a confidential order in July restricting senior foreign telecommunications managers from leaving the country without permission.
