Many of our readers have asked for its return, here it is!
Our last home broadband pricing report was published 15 months ago. Since then, we discovered new Internet service providers, others shut down, the competition is still intense!
From a pure marketing strategy, we have not seen much change happening over a year. ISP’s are fighting fiercely on price and most of them are waiving installation fees. There are also inciting customers to prepay their Internet service and offer an additional discount if they do so. Technology-wise, fiber optic is now the norm in Yangon and Mandalay, Wifi services become marginal.
Some Internet providers are experimenting with dual-play through a partnership with PayTV provider Canal+. Myanmarnet led the pack as usual followed by MPT and more recently AGB.
Overall, we analyzed over 20 ISP’s and collected 139 pricepoints! That is a lot to put in a single chart. Hence we have taken a slightly different approach to the price presentation this time.
First of all, we compiled all the price points and calculated the number of occurrences (the number of times a specific bandwidth appears in an ISP pricelist).
20 Mbps is the new 10 Mbps
In our last report, we pointed out that 40,000 Ks appeared to be the price every Internet provider was shooting for. And at that time, 40,000Ks would give you give or take 10mbps of high-speed internet. One year after, speeds have doubled. 40,000 ks is still the provider’s sweet spot but it now gives you 20mbps for your money.
Overall, the most popular broadband services in Myanmar are 10 Mbps (10 occurrences), 20 Mbps (13 occurrences), and 30Mbps (13 occurrences). As we can see, we are already transitioning from 20mbps to 30mbps and you can bet that by the beginning of 2021, 30mbps would have become the new 20!
Price per Mbps was divided by 2.5 in 1 year
As we can see below, the price per Mbps continued to decrease over the past year. ISPs in Myanmar are not necessarily dropping down the price but simply giving more bandwidth for the same price. Good news for Myanmar consumers that are getting more bang for their bucks. The only challenge for the customers is to obtain such an upgrade with their existing contract. Some of the ISPs limit access to the new promotions to new customers.
Retention is king
The cost of acquisition for a broadband customer is very high. Especially as most of the providers in Myanmar now subsidize installation fees. On the other hand, promotions are usually made available to new customers. Some of the ISP’s may agree to upgrade an existing customer if he threatens to terminate the contract. But the damage is already caused. If an ISP enters a conflictual situation with a customer then it loses his trust. This customer used to be a promoter, not anymore. He will become passive or worst, a detractor. That is why it is so important to allocate resources and efforts to pamper the existing subscriber base. Internet service providers in Myanmar need to shift some of their focus from acquisition to retention. That is a big move but ultimately it will pay off.
From simple to double
Coming back to our numbers, here is the results.
Truenet is the most aggressive player in a market with a price per Mbps at 1,200Ks. Ooredoo is close behind. The mobile operator is generous in terms of bandwidth offering a minimum of 25mbps for 40,000 Ks and up to 120mbps for 120,000 Ks.
The most expensive ISP in the market is Goldennet which is two times more expensive than Truenet. Looking at its Facebook page, Goldennet seems dead in the water.
5BB, one of the market leaders, is comfortably sitting in the middle of the chart. Myanmarnet is also well established as one of the cheapest players in the market.
Overall, the differences are tight. Myanmar consumers are spoilt by choice when it comes to broadband, at least when they live in Yangon.
40,000 Ks Pricepoint
Coming back to our favorite price point, which broadband provider gives you the best deal for 40,000 Ks?
According to our calculation, this is the top 5:
- Truenet 30Mbps 35,000 Ks
- MyanmarLink 30Mbps 38,000 Ks
- Myanmarnet 31Mbps 44,000 Ks
- Streamnet 30Mbps 44,000 Ks
- Yangon Internet 30Mbps 45,000 Ks
Wireless Broadband: Ananda cheaper option in the market
For those who can not benefit from a fiber connection, there is an alternative: Wireless Broadband. Three main players compete fiercely in this market segment: Ananda, Ooredoo, and Telenor. Note that 5BB and Fortune are also offering wireless broadband as we shared in our latest article.
Price-wise, Ananda is the most competitive offer. Ooredoo and Telenor are slightly more expensive but their coverage is nationwide whereas Ananda only offers wireless service in Yangon and Mandalay.
Herbert is a nom de plume.
I am an experienced telecom professional blogging about the fastest growing Internet market in the world: Myanmar.
