Internet service provider 5BB Broadband is planning to expand the number of free Wi-Fi hotspots in Yangon, aiming for 50 access points by the end of February.
5BB has already set up 30 access points at restaurants, pagodas, railway stations, universities and parks around Yangon. In February, they will extend that to 50 hotspots, said U Myo Myint Nyunt, general manager of 5BB Broadband.
“At the beginning of the project, we had to negotiate with the owners in charge of these places to be allowed to install internet access. Based on the results of negotiating with them, we will set up more access points,” he said.
Compared with the plentiful, lightning fast Wi-Fi of regional neighbours such as Bangkok, a lack of infrastructure has meant Wi-Fi in Yangon has been prohibitively expensive for customers and unreliable for users. Up until recently the city lackedeven a bare bones public Wi-Fi network.
But that changed recently, with the public Wi-Fi rollout beginning in December last year. The initial phase brought free internet to six Yangon landmarks: Shwedagon Pagoda, the University of Medicine, the University of Foreign Languages, Yangon International Airport, the Central Railway Station, and Bogyoke Market.
Ma Yu, a student studying Japanese in her mid-twenties, is a Wi-Fi convert. On her regular visits to Shwedagon Pagoda she uses the free internet to check her Facebook.
Mahar Bandula and Kandawgyi Parks would make the perfect places to provide free Wi-Fi access because they’re always busy with visitors, mostly young people and families, she said.
5BB’s free Wi-Fi zones are all equipped with high-speed internet and require no passwords for access.
The company is the second internet service provider to establish free Wi-Fi hotspots in Myanmar and is planning to offer internet packages for domestic and commercial use this month.
Source: Myanamr Business Today
