Burma Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 535,463 (2022 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 1 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 67,930,093 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 126 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: Burma, one of the least developed telecom markets in Asia, saw growth in mobile and broadband services through expanded foreign access and investment in the 2010s and roll outs 4G and limited 5G network infrastructures; infrastructure expansion has been challenged by armed conflict, severe weather events, unreliable electricity, inefficient bureaucracy, and decreased foreign investment since the 2021 military coup; digital divide affects rural areas; fixed broadband remains low due to number of fixed-lines and widespread installation of the mobile network platforms; multiple m-banking platforms; tests for NB-IoT; benefit from launch of regional satellite; government censors online content and restricts Internet and mobile network quality in political crisis (2023)

domestic: fixed-line is just under 1 per 100, while mobile-cellular is roughly 126 per 100 (2021)

international: country code - 95; landing points for the SeaMeWe-3, SeaMeWe-5, AAE-1 and Singapore-Myanmar optical telecommunications submarine cable that provides links to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia and Europe; satellite earth stations - 2, Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and ShinSat (2019)

Broadcast media

government controls all domestic broadcast media; 2 state-controlled TV stations with 1 of the stations controlled by the armed forces; 2 pay-TV stations are joint state-private ventures; 1 state-controlled domestic radio station and 9 FM stations that are joint state-private ventures; transmissions of several international broadcasters are available in parts of Burma; the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA), BBC Burmese service, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Radio Australia use shortwave to broadcast in Burma; VOA, RFA, and DVB produce daily TV news programs that are transmitted by satellite to audiences in Burma; in March 2017, the government granted licenses to 5 private broadcasters, allowing them digital free-to-air TV channels to be operated in partnership with government-owned Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) and will rely upon MRTV’s transmission infrastructure; following the February 2021 military coup, the regime revoked the media licenses of most independent outlets, including the free-to-air licenses for DVB and Mizzima (2022)

Internet country code

.mm

Internet users

total: 23.76 million (2021 est.)

percent of population: 44% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 688,185 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 1 (2020 est.)