China Mobile Ltd. has announced that it will team up with Vodafone Group Pic to bid for the mobile license in Myanmar according to a report from Bloomberg. This is a landmark joint venture between the two biggest wireless companies in the world. A number of investors are looking to tap the 64 million person market where only 10 percent has cell phones.
The more interesting thing about this merger is that it marks another deal between a large Chinese company and Large company from another country. It reminded me of the GE merger in American Wheels, Chinese Roads. I believe that China Mobile saw how well Vodafone has taken over the European mobile market and thought that they could be a huge help in winning the bid for Myanmar. I think that Vodafone liked that China Mobile is close to Myanmar and they can work together to tap the market potential. I thought this article signified a very interesting global merger between two hugely powerful companies.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-04/vodafone-teams-with-china-mobile-for-myanmar-mobile-license-bid.html
Spreading risk is another issue: Myanmar is only (hopefully) emerging from a long period of military government, accompanied by poor management. Remember that Myanmar borders on Yunnan and a teeny bit of Tibet…