Myanmar junta `secures´ telecom towers with land mines in response to rebels
Following a series of attacks by anti-junta fighters on mobile telecom towers in Myanmar that caused substantial damage to the structures and reduced network connectivity, the Myanmar military has resorted to place land mines around towers of network operators including foreign firms Telenor and Ooredoo, independent news outlet Myanmar Now reported on November 5, referring to local telecom engineers.
Of the telecom companies, only Norway’s Telenor confirmed the practice, saying that “several sites” had been fitted with anti-personnel mines by the army, the report noted.
“Telenor Myanmar is gravely concerned with these practices, as they represent a severe people safety challenge for operations and maintenance staff, and for the communities living around tower sites,” a Telenor spokesperson was cited as saying.
Telenor said it has put in place a tower security program, which involves sending text message notifications to Telenor subscribers who live near towers deemed dangerous, warning them to stay away from telecom infrastructure. The company has also placed physical warning signs on mined sites that are owned by Telenor and stopped servicing those sites.
State company MPT has “not heard” of any mines being laid at towers
Japanese companies KDDI and the Sumitomo Corporation, who jointly operate Myanmar’s state-owned mobile operator MPT, both told the news outlet that they “had not heard” of any mines being laid at MPT towers.
Ooredoo Myanmar, the local division of Qatar’s state-owned telecom provider Ooredoo, did not respond for comment.
Telenor is currently in the process of selling their Myanmar business to Lebanon-based M1 Group in a deal that has been criticised by activists over human rights and privacy concerns and is now the subject of a complaint related to the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises, the report said.
[caption id="attachment_37758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Anti-junta fighters in Myanmar are blowing up telecom towers, and the military is now laying land mines around them in response[/caption] Following a series of attacks by anti-junta fighters on mobile telecom towers in Myanmar that caused substantial damage to the structures and reduced network connectivity, the Myanmar military has resorted to place land mines around towers of network operators including foreign firms Telenor and Ooredoo, independent news outlet Myanmar Now reported on November 5, referring to local telecom engineers. Of the telecom companies, only Norway’s Telenor confirmed the practice, saying that “several sites” had been...
Following a series of attacks by anti-junta fighters on mobile telecom towers in Myanmar that caused substantial damage to the structures and reduced network connectivity, the Myanmar military has resorted to place land mines around towers of network operators including foreign firms Telenor and Ooredoo, independent news outlet Myanmar Now reported on November 5, referring to local telecom engineers.
Of the telecom companies, only Norway’s Telenor confirmed the practice, saying that “several sites” had been fitted with anti-personnel mines by the army, the report noted.
“Telenor Myanmar is gravely concerned with these practices, as they represent a severe people safety challenge for operations and maintenance staff, and for the communities living around tower sites,” a Telenor spokesperson was cited as saying.
Telenor said it has put in place a tower security program, which involves sending text message notifications to Telenor subscribers who live near towers deemed dangerous, warning them to stay away from telecom infrastructure. The company has also placed physical warning signs on mined sites that are owned by Telenor and stopped servicing those sites.
State company MPT has “not heard” of any mines being laid at towers
Japanese companies KDDI and the Sumitomo Corporation, who jointly operate Myanmar’s state-owned mobile operator MPT, both told the news outlet that they “had not heard” of any mines being laid at MPT towers.
Ooredoo Myanmar, the local division of Qatar’s state-owned telecom provider Ooredoo, did not respond for comment.
Telenor is currently in the process of selling their Myanmar business to Lebanon-based M1 Group in a deal that has been criticised by activists over human rights and privacy concerns and is now the subject of a complaint related to the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises, the report said.
