Yoma's mobile license bid suffers from delay

Fears of monopolization escalate.

According to OCBC Investment Research, Yoma has requested for a trading halt last night pending the expected award of two telecommunications licenses today by the Myanmar authorities. However, latest news reports that the parliament had on Wednesday voted to delay the award until a new telecommunications law governing the industry is passed. 

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This is due to concerns that the “industry risked being monopolized” and it is yet unclear if a proposed new rule - that only foreign companies with a local JV partners would be granted licenses – would be adopted.

Given these latest updates, we believe that the license award could possibly be delayed as the decision from the parliament is purported to override that of the Telecommunications Operator Tender Evaluation and Selection Committee, which is overseeing the tender process.