Telenor Myanmar officially launched 4G services today in the country’s capital city of Nay Pyi Taw and is testing the high-speed service in other cities.

Telenor Myanmar CEO Petter Furberg (pictured below) said more than 60 per cent of its customers are now data users. “Today’s launch is another milestone for us to fulfill the needs of our customers to experience the latest services and technology. Our 4G service is one more important step in the rapid development of the Myanmar telecom sector.”

Petter Furberg TelenorTelenor, Myanmar’s second largest operator with 16 million connections and a 37 per cent share, has more than 5,800 towers across the country.

Furberg said it aims to expand 4G service to other cities gradually, but noted that to provide 4G service countrywide it will need more spectrum.

“Telenor is looking forward to participating in the spectrum auctions planned by the government later this year. Due to explosive growth of data and increasing data demand we believe it is urgently required to expand our services to 4G across all of Myanmar,” he said.

Telenor Myanmar serves its customers 2G and 3G services with spectrum in 900MHz and 2.1GHz bands.

The announcement comes two months after Ooredoo Myanmar, the country’s third largest operator, launched 4G service in parts of the country’s three major cities — Yangon, Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay – making it the first to offer the high-speed service. The operator rolled out the service across more than 20 townships in the three cities. It said it aims to cover half of Yangon’s townships, nearly 90 per cent of Nay Pyi Taw’s townships and all of Mandalay, without giving a timeframe.

Earlier this week Telenor Group named Lars Erik Tellmann as its new CEO of Telenor Myanmar, replacing Furberg, who will take a new position in Telenor Digital Businesses in Asia.

Tellmann, who is currently CFO of Telenor Myanmar, will take the helm on 1 August and will also join Telenor’s executive management team.