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Googling in Myanmar
Posted By : PNA
Post Date : 28 March 2013
The premier search engine appears to be looking
for answers in countries far removed the beaten track. After a visit to North
Korea in January, the Executive Chairman of Google Inc., Eric Schmidt, visited
Myanmar last week to promote free speech and telecommunication development. The
historic trip made Schmidt the first high-profile tech company executive to
visit the country - a promising sign for a country in the midst of reforms that
may usher in an era of prosperous development and prompt Western nations to
ease sanctions following decades of a military dictatorship.
During the visit Schmidt spoke at a technology
and communications park and meet with government officials. According to a
Google Inc. representative, the objective of the trip was to promote Internet
access throughout Asia. In November, Schmidt visited Seoul, Taipei and Beijing.
Following the dissolution of the military
government in 2011, reforms within the country of Myanmar have encouraged a
surge of interest from overseas investors. The country is marked as having
untapped markets, especially in the the telecommunication sector: mobile
penetration in the country of 60 million is estimated to be at about 5 to 10
percent.
The Google sponsored trip involved government
outreach, and urged leadership and partnership building. Schmidt gave a speech
at the Myanmar Information and Communication Technology Park in Yangon on March
22, before making his way to the capital, Naypyitaw, to meet senior government
officials, said Zaw Min Oo, secretary general of the Myanmar Computer Society.
Myanmar's planned modernization of its
telecommunication infrastructure and expected boom in mobile phone usage will
pave the way for the entry of companies such as Google, which could profit
greatly through sales of cheap smartphones built around its Android platform.
On Thursday, Google launched a local homepage, www.google.com.mm, which will allow for the tailoring of Burma content.
The U.S. lifted most sanctions on doing business in the country last year.
Google commented that it is working to develop local language content.
A meager 1 percent of people in Myanmar have
access to the Internet, and less than ten percent have mobile phones, Schmidt.
Phones remain prohibitively expensive, averaging $563 USD in a nation where the
average income is $60-70 USD per month. Myanmar, at present, has three Internet
service providers, two of which are wholly or partially owned by the government.
All connections, run through a single fiber optic cable, connections to which
have not been updated since 2008, according to the Open Technology Fund report.
The delegation, led by the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) and including Cisco Systems Inc, Google,
Hewlett-Packard Co, Intel Corp, and Microsoft Corp, visited Myanmar to look
into projects to boost access to the Internet, strengthen transparent
government and expand digital literacy, according to a USAID statement.Many leading
firms in Myanmar are still largely controlled by businessmen subject to
sanctions, but Western companies are starting to move in after the
implementation of a new foreign investment law.
At present, Myanmar is offering two operating
licenses for companies to build new telecommunications infrastructure in the
country.
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