Yangon (Chindwin): Telenor Myanmar, a subsidiary of the Norwegian Telenor group and was sold to the Lebanese M1 Group for US$105 million in July 2021 but completed the transaction in March 2022.
Four months into the takeover of the former Norwegian telecom giant, Telenor Myanmar was renamed on Wednesday ATOM Myanmar in a ceremony held in Novtal hotel in Yangon.
The Norwegian telecom giant decided to leave the war-strife country in the aftermath of the 2021 coup d’etat, although several human rights groups had launched a campaign to Telenor Myanmar – not to sell to the company associated with the military junta.
Muhammad Ziaullah Siddiqui, a director of ATOM Myanmar, said, “Atom has formed on the belief that everyone should have a communication network in the era of many challenges”.
Atom Myanmar is a joint venture named Investcom between Myanmar’s Shwe Byain Phu and Lebanese M1 Group, with some rumours indicating that Investcom is owned 80% by Shwe Byain Phu.
Telenor Myanmar has 18 million existing customers at the time of selling the company.
The new owner of a former Telenor Myanmar vowed to provide the best telecom services for the customers. Yet, the director of M1 Group failed short of mentioning the data protection during a grand ceremony launched yesterday for a new name.
This worries millions a lot as hundreds have been arrested with some already killed as a result of data sharing between the junta regime and telecommunication operators in the country.
Data protection is much of a concern for millions of citizens and human rights organizations as the junta army does not show signs of abating the crackdown on the civilian use of mobile phones and arbitrary arrest, which rights groups alleged the telecommunications operators share data with the junta regime.
