Only two years ago, buying a Sim card in Myanmar would have cost around US$250.

However, as President Thein Sein and his pro-reform cabinet attract increasing levels of foreign direct investment to the once isolated country, Sim cards priced at US$1.5 are now available for the Myanmarese people.

These more affordable Sim cards are marketed by two foreign operators – Ooredoo of Qatar and Telenor of Norway – following their successful bids last year for licenses to provide mobile services in Myanmar for the next 15 years.

Ooredoo and Telenor will compete with each other, and state-owned Myanmar Post and Telecommunications, for a Myanmarese market of 60 million people. Mobile penetration at end-2012 was 9%, according to government data.