Telecoms seen taking rising share of FDI

The Myanmar Investment Commission expects that foreign direct investment will reach between US$4 billion and $5 billion in the coming 2014-15 fiscal year, with the telecommunications sector seen as a rising star.

U Aung Naing Oo, directorgeneral of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration and a member of the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), said that the telecoms sector offered significant potential for foreign investment in the coming year.

“[Telcoms companies] Telenor and Ooredoo have received licenses as service providers, but they can’t implement everything themselves. We need other companies that can help their projects—for example, building fiber optic lines and towers around the nation—so we expect that some related foreign companies that can help them will be coming in the next year,” he said.

“I do expect that a full 20 percent of foreign investment will go to the telecoms sector this year, [and] more in the year after. It may become the number one investment in Myanmar.”

According to MIC figures, the top draw for FDI was the country’s laborintensive manufacturing sector, at $1.7 billion accounting for nearly half of the total $3.5 billion invested so far in the 2013-14 financial year. -Kyaw Hsu Mon