ATOM Myanmar

Advancing Telecommunications of Myanmar, marketed as ATOM Myanmar (Burmese: အက်တမ် မြန်မာ), is a telecommunications company in Myanmar (Burma). After the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Telenor divested its Telenor Myanmar operations, selling it to the joint venture owned by Lebanese M1 Group and Shwe Byain Phyu. The company officially rebranded as ATOM on 8 June 2022.[1] As of September 2022, ATOM Myanmar's CEO is Muhammad Ziaullah Siddiqui.[2]

ATOM Myanmar
Native name
အက်တမ် မြန်မာ
IndustryTelecommunications
PredecessorTelenor Myanmar
Founded2022 (2022)
Headquarters
Yangon
,
Myanmar
Key people
Muhammad Ziaullah Siddiqui, CEO
Websitewww.atom.com.mm

History

In the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Telenor faced increasing pressure from the State Administration Council, the military junta, to activate intercept equipment to surveil and monitor its 18 million customers.[3][4] In May 2021, Telenor was forced to write off USD$780 million investment in Myanmar.[5] On 8 July 2021, Telenor announced it would sell Telenor Myanmar for US$105 million to M1 Group, an investment company based in Lebanon, founded by Taha and Najib Mikati.[6] In February 2022, reports emerged that Shwe Byain Phyu, a local conglomerate linked with the Burmese military, would own 80% of Telenor Myanmar, with Lebanese M1 Group owning the remaining shares.[7][8]

The sale prompted significant scrutiny from Burmese civil society over data privacy concerns, given SBP and Thein Win Zaw's links to the Burmese military.[9] Legal experts and activists urged Telenor to protect customer metadata, by putting the sale on hold or by deleting the data before the transaction was completed.[9] On 10 February, Duwa Lashi La, the acting president of the National Unity Government called on the acting president of Norway to intervene and prevent the sale.[10] Activist groups like Justice for Myanmar called on the Norwegian government to stop the sale, because of Shwe Byain Phyu's close ties to the Burmese military.[11]

The sale was approved by the Myanmar Investment Commission on 18 March 2022. Shwe Byain Phyu and M1 Group have formed a joint venture, Investcom, to take over Telenor operations in Myanmar.[9] Ownership was transferred on 25 March, and Telenor Myanmar was rebranded to ATOM on 8 June 2022.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Telenor Myanmar is renamed "ATOM Myanmar" following the takeover of the Norwegian telecom giant by M1 Group". THE CHINDWIN. 2022-06-09. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  2. "အက်တမ်(ATOM) ၏ ရက်ပေါင်း ၁၀၀ ပြည့် အထိမ်းအမှတ်အဖြစ် ကံစမ်းမဲအစီအစဉ်များ ပါဝင်သည့် နောက်ဆုံးပေါ် 3D ဂိမ်း တို့တို့ဆိုက်ကားဂိမ်းကို မိတ်ဆက်". Eleven Media Group Co., Ltd (in Burmese). 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  3. "Junta's Demand to Spy on Customers Prompts Telenor to Leave Myanmar". The Irrawaddy. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  4. "Myanmar FDI drops to 8-year low, reflecting post-takeover unrest". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  5. "Norwegian Telenor exits Myanmar after the military coup". Global Defense Corp. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  6. "Telenor Group sells Telenor Myanmar to M1 Group". Telenor Group. 2021-07-08. Archived from the original on 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  7. "EXCLUSIVE-Myanmar firm poised to control Telenor unit after military backs bid-sources". Reuters. 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  8. Tin Htet Paing (2022-02-04). "Telenor sale to military-linked consortium to be complete in mid-February". Myanmar Now.
  9. "Telenor sale gets green light from Myanmar junta's telecoms regulator". Myanmar NOW. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  10. "NUG acting president calls on Norway's prime minister to prevent sale of Telenor to junta-linked company". Myanmar NOW. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  11. "Norwegian government must urgently stop Telenor Myanmar sale or it will be complicit with terrorist junta". Justice For Myanmar. 2022-02-06. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  12. "Beyond Better: ATOM launches in Myanmar". ATOM. 2022-06-08. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
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