The Myanmar telecommunications authorities have announced raising of various domestic telephone call charges to a uniform rate beginning Jan. 1, 2010, according to the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraph Thursday.
All call charges for line and mobile phones will be uniformly fixed at 50 Kyats (0.05 U.S. dollar) per minute, the sources said.
However, charges for international call remain unchanged, the sources added.
Previously, charges for domestic call varied for downtown and trunk calls at a range from 15 Kyats to 35 Kyats.
According to the Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) under the ministry, the number of GSM mobile phones in the whole of Myanmar hit 392,800 in 2008, up from 211,812 in 2007.
Other phones such as CDMA stood at 205,500 as of the year, while auto-phones at 153,344.
GSM phones have been extensively used in Myanmar since it was introduced in 2002 after cellular ones in 1993 and the DECT ( Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) and CDMA in 1997.
Meanwhile, the authorities have started to add 150,000 more CDMA phone lines in two major cities of Yangon and Mandalay from this month to provide better telecommunication services.
Of them, 100,000 CDMA 800 MHz phone lines are installed in Yangon, while the remaining 50,000 in Mandalay, earlier report said, adding that such phone lines cost 500,000 Kyats (about 500 U. S. dollars) each, cheaper than before.
Voice message, fax and short message services are rendered with the CDMA 800 MHz phones but accessible only within the limited area, it said.
A former CDMA 450 MHz phone card costs about 1.5 million Kyats (about 1,500 dollars) and its accessibility covers the whole country.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is also making efforts to introduce world's up-date audio-visual mobile phone for use in the country for the first time to upgrade its telecommunication links.
The upgraded system will be based on the existing GSM network, the authorities said, adding that the introduction of 3-G WCDMA system represents Myanmar's entry into a new phase of its mobile phone system.
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