For Norway’s Telenor, Myanmar’s coup leaves ‘many dilemmas’: CEO

Norwegian telecoms firm is one of the biggest foreign investors in Myanmar, which generates 7% of its earnings.

Since Myanmar’s military ordered telecoms operators to shut their networks in an effort to end protests against its February coup, Telenor’s business there has been in limbo. As one of the few Western companies to bet on the South East Asian country after it emerged from military dictatorship 10 years ago, the return to army rule led to a $783m write-off this week for Norway’s Telenor. The Norwegian state-controlled firm, one of the biggest foreign investors in Myanmar, must now decide whether to ride out the turmoil, or withdraw from a market which last year contributed 7 percent of its earnings.