Back in February 2018, Mytel was the 4th mobile operator to launch commercial service in Myanmar.
Telecom giant Viettel which owns 49% of Mytel has a strong reputation across the globe of practicing an agressive price strategy. And Myanmar was no exception to the rule. At the launch, Mytel released data plans which were half the price practiced in the market!
This promotion was duly authorized by Myanmar government as a gesture to support the new player’s customer intake.
Mid August, Mytel already attracted 2.4 million subs into its network which represents 4% market share. It was high time for this exemption to end which did happen early September.
Every mobile operator is now on equal footing and it translates very seamlessly on the new promotions launched earlier this month
There is a new price point for mobile data in Myanmar and the good news is that it is 30% cheaper than it used to be.
As usual, Ooredoo was the first to pull the trigger with A Lan Sar packs: 8 monthly packs which carry over month on month. The plans start at 699 Ks for 500MB and go up to 39,999 Ks for 40GB.
Rapidly after Ooredoo, Telenor released 2 new plans via a new shortcode *555#. These new plans were rapidly merged into a revamped version of Data Suboo called “better data suboo plan”. This two-fold move is a bit odd and may suggest that Telenor was eager to react to Ooredoo with a first quick and dirty promotion which spare him some time to revamp Suboo packs.
MPT as usual was the last one to react and released a few days ago Data CarryPlus, a new set of plans from 350MB to 30GB.
When it comes to Mytel, the new operator had to increase its prices as soon as the exemption expired. Surprisingly, Mytel mobile data plans are not available on the operator website but can be found on Facebook or via the mobile USSD Menu.
As we analyze all the new plans, it appears very clearly that the operators are more or less aligned on the same price-point. There is no price advantage anymore for the new comer except maybe for the smallest packages where Telenor, Ooredoo and MPT are quite reluctant to drop the prices. But in the nutshell, the new price for mobile data in Myanmar is set very clearly at 1 Kyat per MB and no operator does exception to this rule.
Even if there is a just tiny difference between each operator plan, this comparison gives us a few takeaways.
The cheapest mobile data plan in Myanmar
Mytel 300 Ks for 300MB
The most cost effective mobile data plan in Myanmar
Mytel 968 Ks for 1GB
The largest mobile data plan in Myanmar
Ooredoo 39,999 Ks for 40GB
This new mobile data pricing is good news for the end customer
Beside the fact that the average price per MB dropped by 30%, it is quite interesting to see every operator aligned on the same price point. The four mobile operators have then no choice but to compete on quality and improve their network coverage and performance to gain market share. This is truly an example of healthy price regulation which at the end benefit to Myanmar consumers.
Herbert is a nom de plume.
I am an experienced telecom professional blogging about the fastest growing Internet market in the world: Myanmar.
