The Burmese junta has authorized the sale of the mobile operator Telenor Myanmar, a subsidiary of the Norwegian giant Telenor which has decided to withdraw from Burma, to the Lebanese M1 associated with a local group, raising fears for the personal data of millions of Burmese.
Burma has descended into violence since the Burmese army’s February 1, 2021 coup against the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Citing the deterioration of the situation after the putsch, Telenor completely wrote down the value of its very lucrative subsidiary Telenor Myanmar, one of the main operators in the country, and announced its sale in July.
“M1 Group has been informed that the Burma Investment Commission has approved Telenor Group’s application for the sale of Telenor Myanmar to Investcom PTE Ltd, a subsidiary of M1 Group,” M1 said in a statement.
Telenor said in a separate statement that the sale had received “final regulatory approval”.
M1 will partner with a Burmese consortium to take control of the new entity, its statement added.
Founded in 1996, Shwe Byain Phyu began by distributing petroleum products for the then military government and employs over 2,000 people in Burma.
The company has interests in oil trading, commodities, and shipping, according to its website, which does not mention any previous telecommunications experience.
Telenor had a commercial presence in Burma since 2014.
Limit the damage
“The sanctions review by external consultants has assured Telenor that Shwe Byain Phyu and its owners are not subject to any current international sanctions,” the Norwegian company said in its statement.
In July, 474 civil society groups across the country called her decision to step down irresponsible, saying she had not given sufficient consideration to the human rights impact of such a stepping down.
The sale risks putting the data of millions of customers into the hands of the ruling military junta, according to a complaint filed last month in Norway.
In September, Telenor itself accused the military junta of demanding the installation of equipment to spy on telecommunications, a demand the group said at the time it had refused.
According to human rights defenders, any new owners could comply with future requests by the junta to provide cellphone data.
“There are still many things that Telenor can do to limit the damage,” said Joseph Wilde-Ramsing, researcher at the NGO SOMO, “like setting up a fund to help victims, remedy some of the harm they are going to contribute with the sale”.
In Burma, citizen militias supported by ethnic rebel factions have taken up arms against the regime and the generals are carrying out a bloody crackdown on their opponents: nearly 1,700 civilians have been killed and more than 9,000 are currently in detention , according to a local watchdog group.