President Thein Sein has announced that low-price mobile SIM cards will be available in Myanmar soon. The announcement was made in a radio speech outlining the country's new budget on March 31.
“As I have promised you before—starting this April, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology will start selling mobile telephone SIM cards at an affordable price to the general public in accordance with the necessary rules and regulations,” said the president in his speech.
He did not specify what price the SIM cards would be retailed for. Previously a SIM card cost some 200,000 to 250,000 kyat (US$235 - $290).
The government is currently drawing up a plan to expand the country's undeveloped telephone infrastructure over the coming years and aims to increase the number of mobile phones in the country to eight million during the 2013-14 fiscal year; to 18 million by 2014-15; and, ultimately, to have 26 million phones throughout Myanmar.
