• Burmese
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
32 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Belgian Firm Withdraws from Myanmar Military-backed Mytel

Moe Myint by Moe Myint
August 13, 2019
in Business
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
Executives and shareholders of of Mytel pose for photos with the Vietnamese ambassador to Myanmar during the company’s announcement that it had successfully tested 5G network services in Yangon on Aug. 5, 2019. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Executives and shareholders of of Mytel pose for photos with the Vietnamese ambassador to Myanmar during the company’s announcement that it had successfully tested 5G network services in Yangon on Aug. 5, 2019. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

9.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

YANGON—Belgian company Newtec’s decision to stop doing business with Myanmar military-backed Mytel will not seriously impact the company’s more than 15 million SIM-card holders across the country, according to Communication & Commerce (Com & Com), a technology and equipment supplier to Mytel.

On Aug. 5, the UN’s Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) published a list of companies, including nearly 60 foreign firms, that jointly or indirectly do businesses with the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw). Newtec was among the many firms mentioned. FFM urged foreign and domestic companies to financially isolate the military’s business empire, which covers banking to brewing to bus services, in response to the Army’s actions against the Rohingya community in Rakhine State.

Mytel, the country’s fourth-largest telecom operator, is a joint venture between Myanmar Army-backed Star High Company, which holds 48 percent, Vietnam’s Defense Ministry, which holds 28 percent, and Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public Ltd, a group of 11 local companies with a combined 23-percent stake.

RelatedPosts

Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

July 7, 2025
5.1k
Cambodia’s Hun Sen Accuses Thai PM of ‘Insulting King’

Cambodia’s Hun Sen Accuses Thai PM of ‘Insulting King’

June 27, 2025
905
UN Rapporteur Urges Rejection of Myanmar Election ‘Fraud’

UN Rapporteur Urges Rejection of Myanmar Election ‘Fraud’

June 26, 2025
844

In an announcement following the FFM report, Newtec said it would “follow the recommendations by the UN and stop commercial ties with Mytel linked to the MEC [Myanmar Economic Corporation] through its corporate structure.”

Until recently, Com & Com purchased Newtec’s satellite platform and products and supplied it to Mytel’s network to boost connectivity in hard-to-reach remote areas and places lacking optical fiber structures.

Com & Com deputy chief executive officer Ko Win Htet Aung told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that his company had not yet officially been informed of Newtec’s decision through the proper channels, and had made a formal request to Newtec for further explanation. He said that Mytel uses Newtec satellite modems in rural areas, so Mytel SIM users in remote regions will lack network service once Newtec cuts its services.

He declined to estimate the percentage of Mytel’s SIM users that rely on satellite communications, but insisted the number was not large, and that commercial users would not be widely affected.

Calls from The Irrawaddy to Mytel public relations official U Zaw Min Oo went unanswered on Tuesday. Mytel Company chairman U Khin Maung Soe briefly replied that his company has not yet received official confirmation from Newtec of its plan to cut ties.

It remains unclear when Newtec’s cutting of technical support and supply of satellite communications equipment to Mytel woult take effect. Newtec staff declined to reply to specific questions, saying members of the management were away from the office.

Newtec said in its statement that it would deny any future requests by Com & Com for the use of its products and services in the Mytel network. In addition, it stated that it was not directly approached by Mytel but by Com & Com, a joint venture company founded between Terabit Wave (Myanmar) and OSB JSC (Vietnam). In 2018, Com & Com won Mytel’s tender process to develop Mytel’s 4G networks.

Newtec said, “We will never knowingly sell to any organization or company linked to the Tatmadaw’s campaign of violence across Rakhine State and the atrocities committed against the Rohingya.” Myanmar military operations in 2017 expelled more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees to neighboring Bangladesh from northern Rakhine State.

The UN described the army’s actions toward the Rohingya community as having “genocidal intent” and rights groups have called for army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and top military generals to be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court  for their roles in the crisis.

You may also like these stories:

Military-Backed Mytel Announces Successful Test of 5G Service

Army-Backed Mytel Fined Nearly $200,000 for Giving Away Free SIM Cards

Mytel Employees Protest Unpaid Wages

Your Thoughts …
Tags: BelgiumboycottCom & ComFFMMilitaryMytelNewtecRakhineRohingyaSanctionssatellite technologyTatmadawTelecomUN
Moe Myint

Moe Myint

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

AA Urges Myanmar Junta Troops to Surrender as Western Command Burns
War Against the Junta

AA Urges Myanmar Junta Troops to Surrender as Western Command Burns

by The Irrawaddy
December 18, 2024
25.4k

Ethnic army reportedly poised to capture regime’s last stronghold in Rakhine State.

Read moreDetails
Myanmar General in Charge of Shan State Disaster Handed Surprise Promotion
Burma

Myanmar General in Charge of Shan State Disaster Handed Surprise Promotion

by The Irrawaddy
February 5, 2024
24.4k

Naing Naing Oo elevated to Lieutenant-General and made chief of powerful Bureau of Special Operations No. 2, in a reshuffle...

Read moreDetails
Battle of Paletwa Loss Turns Tide Against Myanmar Junta on Western Front
Analysis

Battle of Paletwa Loss Turns Tide Against Myanmar Junta on Western Front

by Moe Sett Nyein Chan
January 23, 2024
22k

The military’s demoralized Western Command is feeling the heat as the Arakan Army closes in on towns in northern Rakhine,...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar’s Chief of Eastern Command Purged After Karenni Defeats
Burma

Myanmar’s Chief of Eastern Command Purged After Karenni Defeats

by The Irrawaddy
January 12, 2024
20.1k

Major-General Hla Moe is reportedly the latest junta commander to pay the price for sweeping gains made by resistance forces. 

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta’s Central Bank Had $6.8 Bn in Reserves at 14 Int’l Banks in March
Myanmar’s Crisis & the World

Myanmar Junta’s Central Bank Had $6.8 Bn in Reserves at 14 Int’l Banks in March

by The Irrawaddy
August 21, 2023
19k

Singapore banks held 67% of the junta’s foreign reserves; in a bank document seen by The Irrawaddy, the junta praises...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Counteroffensives Failing Across Country: Analysts
Analysis

Myanmar Junta Counteroffensives Failing Across Country: Analysts

by Hein Htoo Zan
September 20, 2024
16.8k

Three major operations to retake territory from ethnic armies and their allies are being hampered by troop shortages, experts say.

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Riot police use pepper spray to disperse anti-extradition bill protesters during a mass demonstration after a woman was shot in the eye, at the Hong Kong international airport, in Hong Kong China on August 13, 2019. / Reuters

Chinese State Media Urge Action, Voice Support for Hong Kong Police After Overnight Clashes

A man sells Kashmir's flags and patriotic memorabilia ahead of Pakistan's Independence Day, along a market in Karachi, Pakistan August 13, 2019. / Reuters

Pakistan Asks UN Security Council to Meet Over India Moves in Kashmir

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Myanmar Regime Leader Rejects World Bank Economic Forecast as Inaccurate

Myanmar Regime Leader Rejects World Bank Economic Forecast as Inaccurate

5 days ago
1.5k
From Foreign Policy Drift to Diplomatic Freefall in Myanmar

From Foreign Policy Drift to Diplomatic Freefall in Myanmar

1 week ago
2.1k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

    Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • TNLA Defies Myanmar Junta Push to Cede Shan Towns in China Talks  

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Timor-Leste Hits Back at Myanmar Junta’s Objection to ASEAN Membership

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar’s Civilian Govt Rebuffs Junta’s Appeal for ‘Cooperation’

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar’s Strongest Armed Ethnic Alliance is Faltering

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.