Airtel to adopt low-tariff India business model in Myanmar: Mittal

Telecom major Airtel on Thursday said it plans to bring its low-tariff, high volume business model to Mynamar, where the company has submitted final bid for a telecom licence.

"We made a very serious bid and I think the Indian business model works very well here. Massive roll out, rural roll out, low tariffs and we bring all that to the table," Founder and Chairman of Bharti Airtel Sunil Bharti Mittal told PTI on sidelines of World Economic Forum on East Asia.

Securing a licence in Myanmar will help the Indian telecom major expand presence in the sub-continent at a time when the company is seeing decline in profits and the home market is reeling under regulatory uncertainity.

Bharti Airtel-led consortium is among 11 entities to have submitted final bids for telecom licences in Myanmar.

Mittal said: "It (Myanmar) is a fantastic market (with) 60 million people, one of the last few frontiers which are undiscovered in the telephony area, its a great market."

The Myanmar government has for the first time opened up its telecom market with two licences for private investments with aim to increase the overall tele-density of the country to 75 to 80 percent in 2015-2016.

At present, there are two functioning operators in Myanmar- MPT and Yatanarpon Teleport.

MPT is a fully government-owned operator and Yatanarpon Teleport is a semi-government owned operator.

The Myanmar government, as per schedule, will announce the winners of the two licences on June 27.

Airtel already offers services in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and 17 African countries apart from India.