By Chun Han Wong
SINGAPORE--A fund backed by billionaire investor George Soros
has partnered Singapore's Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd. (Z59.SG) and
Jamaica's Digicel Group to make a joint bid for a
telecommunications license in Myanmar.
The consortium--which includes Mr. Soros' Quantum Strategic
Partners, Digicel, as well as Yoma and affiliate First Myanmar
Investments Co.--has submitted a pre-qualification bid to the
Myanmar government, Yoma said in a statement Thursday.
The bid joins others by major foreign investors vying for the
two telecommunications licenses that the government plans to issue
by June.
The government in January announced plans to grant two licenses
as part of efforts to liberalize its underdeveloped and potentially
lucrative telecommunications market.
Other contenders include Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.
(Z74.SG), Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLK), Malaysia's Axiata Group
Bhd (6888.KU), Norway's Telenor ASA (TEL.OS) and India's Bharti
Airtel Ltd. (532454.BY).
Myanmar has long held tight control of its telecommunications
sector and kept foreign competitors out of the market.
Its former military government--which ruled from 1962 before
handing power to a quasi-civilian administration in 2010--was
suspicious of foreign involvement in sensitive sectors such as
communications, and largely insisted on running telephone services
itself, though foreign companies at times sold equipment there and
local companies have begun providing some services.
Yoma is a Singapore-listed holding company with interests in
Myanmar spanning real estate, agriculture, automobiles and retail.
Digicel operates mobile networks in 31 markets across the
Caribbean, Central and South America, and the South Pacific.
Write to Chun Han Wong at chunhan.wong@dowjones.com
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