BUDGET SIM CARD PRICE SOARS HUNDREDFOLD AS DEMAND FROM FOREIGNERS GROWS

Written by Admin on August 15, 2013. Posted in Entertainment, News, Top Stories

 

Myanmar's budget Sim cards fetched price 100 times higher than the official price in the black

market as the demand grows substantially in the country with low mobile coverage, local media

outlet The Yangon Times reported.

The report suggests that the demand from the foreigners residing in the country also contributed

to the rise.

The incoming foreign investors are buying the Sim cards from the local people who bought the

Sim cards in lottery style sale.

Lin Lin, a handset vendor in Yangon said, "Foreign investors want a Sim card for their own

handsets for their three- or four-month stay. They don't even think twice to use a region of USD

130 or 150 for a Sim card."

The official price for a low-cost Sim card sold by the government-run Myanma Posts and

Telecommunications is around USD 1.5.

That is a chance for SIM card winners in the lottery sale to make the profit, Lin Lin added.

Foreign residents in Myanmar are buying Sim cards, which is part of the government's initiative

to expand the mobile phone coverage in Myanmar to 50% by 2015, through NGOs and

companies.

Ko Ko Aung of Lugyimin mobile shop, one of famous handset retailers in the city, said, the

higher price is an impact of the higher demand and the supply fails to meet the growing demand.

The government has already sold 1.2 million of CDMA 800 MHz and GSM Sim cards through

lottery-style since earlier April.

The government does not allow the transfer of Sim cards to the other hands, but the deals are

happening in the black market.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/budget-sim-card-price-soars-hundredfold-as-demand-from-foreigners-grows/