A Nokia spokesperson confirmed that the company provides radio equipment that is fitted on Ooredoo towers and referred to Ooredoo for further questions. Ooredoo, a Myanmar telecoms provider majority-owned by the Qatari government, was among the companies who did not respond to a request for comment. However, Myanmar Now has learned that MPT and Ooredoo towers have also been mined. “We will continue our efforts to maintain the social infrastructure giving top priority to the safety of all concerned,” Sachiko Oda of KDDI said. Japanese companies KDDI and the Sumitomo Corporation, who jointly operate state-owned mobile operator MPT, both responded that they had not heard of any mines being laid at MPT towers. “We are in close dialogue with tower partners on monitoring and reporting suspected mined sites,” the spokesperson said. In such cases, according to the Telenor spokesperson, it is the tower companies who are obliged to ensure security. Most of the mined sites are owned by tower companies who lease them to Telenor and other operators. The company has also stopped servicing unsafe sites. Telenor has put in place a tower security program, which involves sending text message notifications to Telenor subscribers who live near dangerous towers, warning them to stay away from telecoms infrastructure. “Telenor Myanmar is gravely concerned with these practices, as they represent a severe people safety challenge for operations and maintenance staff, and for the communities living around tower sites,” the spokesperson explained.

several sites have been fitted with anti-personnel mines,” the individual told Myanmar Now in an email.

Only Telenor confirmed the presence of mines.Ī Telenor spokesperson said the practice appeared to happen “indiscriminately across mobile and tower operators.” Myanmar Now contacted multiple telecoms providers-MPT, Ooredoo and Telenor-with requests for comment on the allegations that the Myanmar military had laid landmines around their towers as well, or towers owned by third-party companies and leased to them. The engineers, who left their posts after the February 1 coup, said that the move follows attacks by the anti-junta People’s Defence Forces (PDFs), who used bombs and makeshift explosive devices to target Mytel towers due to the company’s military links. Several striking engineers from Mytel-a telecoms provider jointly owned by the Myanmar military-told Myanmar Now that the junta has been planting “security landmines” at many of the company’s tower sites in recent months. Since September, the Myanmar military has laid landmines at telecommunications towers owned by or leased to mobile operators including Telenor, Myanmar Now has learned.