Ooredoo officials, along with Myanmar ministers and other dignitaries, celebrate the 1mn customer mark in Nay Pyi Taw. Right: A dance performance at the ceremony.

Ooredoo has already crossed the 1mn customer milestone in its newest market of Myanmar, less than three weeks after going live with its services, to reach an expected 25mn customer base by the end of 2014.

Since its launch in Myanmar, the company has seen unprecedented demand for its mobile phone and Internet services, with people queuing overnight to purchase a low-cost Ooredoo SIM cards.

The Ooredoo team is striving to deliver up to customers’ expectations, offering crystal-clear voice services and fast Internet, the company said.

Demonstrating the potential for growth and strong appetite for data services in Myanmar, many customers are using mobile and accessing the Internet for the first time, it said.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani, chairman, Ooredoo Group, revealed the significant achievement in a special ceremony in Myanmar capital Nay Pyi Taw. The function was attended by several VIP guests, including U Myat Hein, Myanmar Minister of Communications and Information Technology; Jaber Ali al-Dosari, Qatar Ambassador to Thailand and accredited to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos; Aziz al-Uthman Fakhroo, Ooredoo Group board member and chairman of Ooredoo Myanmar; Dr Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo; U Than Htun Aung, director of Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications Department; and Ross Cormack, CEO of Ooredoo Myanmar.

“Mobile communication enriches people’s lives. It connects job-seekers with new opportunities, unites families who are separated by geography, enables teachers to access learning resources, farmers to track market demand, and entrepreneurs to connect with new suppliers, which is why we have continuously pushed to enable people’s access to these life chances... We are committed to continuously improving our service so we can meet our promise of giving people better life chances,” Sheikh Abdullah said.

Ooredoo has installed the world’s first next-generation purely UMTS900 network throughout Myanmar, which will provide fast Internet and is primed to enable a smooth transition to a 4G LTE network in the future.

“Over the past few years, the Union Government and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology have worked hard to lay the foundations for the creation of a competitive telecommunications landscape that truly serves our people and we are closer than ever to achieving this,” according to Hein.

Fakhroo said this has been a challenging Greenfield launch, where Ooredoo had to counter several logistical and technological challenges to deliver a world-class network for the people.

“We have overcome these challenges with the help of local partners and communities, and have become the first international communications company to operate in Myanmar. We will continue to strive to offer the very best services for our customers,” he said.

Speaking of the challenges faced during the development stage, Cormack praised the 1,000 employees of the Ooredoo Myanmar team, and stated that – in keeping with the company’s tradition of hiring local talent – 800 of these team members are Myanmar people.

Alongside traditional sales and services jobs, which cover 6,500 dealers at launch and 30,000 points of sale for top-ups, the company estimate through the distribution network alone Ooredoo has already supported about 50,000 new jobs for the people of Myanmar.