Myanma Posts & Telecommunications (MPT) has slashed the price of voice calls from MMK35 (almost 3 cents) to MMK23 (2 cents) a minute, putting pressure on its two foreign rivals Ooredoo and Telenor, which launched services less than a year ago.

Both Telenor and Ooredoo charge MMK25 a minute for voice on their base tariffs, the Myanmar Times said.

The state-owned incumbent, which signed a joint operating agreement with KDDI-Sumitomo last July, aims to attract new customers and maintain its position as the market leader as its rivals gain ground.

MPT’s market share has dropped from 100 per cent a year ago, when it held a monopoly, to 47 per cent in Q2, according to GSMA Intelligence. Norway’s Telenor has a 36 per cent market share, while Ooredoo has a 17 per cent share.

The country has seen mobile connections jump from one million to more than 25 million in just three years.

Fierce price cutting isn’t limited to voice. In May after Ooredoo introduced a promo offering data at MMK6 (less than half a cent) per megabyte, Telenor responded with an MMK5 per megabyte rate just hours later. Ooredoo had earlier cut its pay-as-you-go internet rates from MMK10 per megabyte to MMK6 per megabyte to match Telenor’s.

The price cut lowered rates to $4.50-$5.40 per gigabyte.