Telecoms, data and payments transactions, M&A, JVs, SHAs, network-sharing, SaaS
Ooredoo (formerly known as QTel) and Telenor have won the process run by the executive branch of the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar for the award of two national telecoms licences. A consortium of Orange and Marubeni Corporation was named as the back-up applicant. The original field of twelve bidders was reduced to eleven following the…
Following its evaluation of applications, the Government of Myanmar today announced 12 pre-qualified applicants for the two national telecoms licences being allocated by tender: Axiata Group Bharti Airtel China Mobile and Vodafone Group Digicel Group France Telecom / Orange KDDI Corp and Sumitomo Corp Millicom International Cellular MTN Dubai Ooreedo (aka Qatar Telecom) Singtel, KBZ…
On 1 April the government of Singapore adopted a ‘Intellectual Property (IP) Hub Master Plan: Developing Singapore as a Global IP Hub in Asia’. Despite the date, this is emphatically no joke. The plan helpfully summarises its key aspects in the following diagram: The initiatives adopted are: OUTCOME / ENABLER KEY STRATEGY INITIATIVE Outcome 1:A hub for…
International arbitration to provide unbiased disputed resolution mechanism for international investors Myanmar’s long isolation from the international community has meant that it has lacked many of the protections available to international investors elsewhere. It is therefore very encouraging that on 7 March 2013 the Myanmar parliament agreed to sign the New York Convention on the…
I was fortunate this week to be both a speaker and a panellist at Questex Asia’s ‘BYOD and Mobile Security conference held in Singapore. It turned out I was the only lawyer in a room of 200 plus IT people, which was an interesting experience. Having made my presentation (Olswang_Asia_BYOD_presentation) my conversations with delegates brought home…
Whilst the focus of this blog is the intersection of telecoms and technology with law and regulation, it does occasionally stray into ‘softer’ topics. With the first anniversary of our Singapore office coming up after the lunar new year, I was reflecting on what I had learnt in my time here. Just after arrival I had blogged about the importance of…
Myanmar today (15 January 2013) invited expressions of interest for two national telecommunications services licences. I have blogged about the prospects for telecoms in Myanmar before, and today’s announcement starts to clear some of the fog obscuring the road ahead. Policy framework In the short press release, the Government recites that their policy framework is: “for the…
When I opened my (electronic) Financial Times this morning, the headline ‘China slowdown hits Asian growth hopes’ seemed rather gloomy. As an expat European, I was bracing myself for bad news to follow, so was rather cheered to read the actual growth forecast for the region of 6.1%. Whilst that is a downward revision from the 6.9% forecast earlier in…
Earlier this week, a draft of the Singapore Data Protection Bill was introduced to the Singapore parliament. This draft follows a MICA consultation on a prior draft and removes some of the more controversial aspects of the prior draft, most notably a provision that attempted to assert extra-territorial jurisdiction. Although this will be a significant change…
Regular readers will know that I am slowly working my way around the telecoms markets of SE Asia. Thailand has been a recent focus, culminating in a two-day trip to Bangkok to try to understand the market dynamics behind the recently announced 3G auctions. The auction is reported to be for 45 MHz of spectrum in 5MHz lots in…
I will be spending next week in Mumbai and Delhi (with @singarbitration), and in preparation have been contemplating the impact of the recent budget proposals on foreign investment, and in turn the implications for the Indian economy. Before going on any trip, I like to remind myself of some basic economic facts, so my trusty EIU ‘World…
Following recent political reforms in Myanmar and the recent electoral success of Aung San Suu Kyi‘s National League for Democracy, Myanmar is currently flavour of the month as an investment destination, and could soon see significant investment in telecoms infrastructure. However, whilst there are opportunities Myanmar is starting out on a long journey that could be derailed very…