Chapter 3 of the Myanmar Telecommunications Law stipulates that any person, department, or business organisation, inside Myanmar or from abroad, willing to provide the following facilities and/or telecommunication services shall apply to the Directorate of Communication under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for permission and licence for the following services: (i) Network facility services (NFS); (b) Network Services (NS); and (ii) Application services (AS).
It is reported that the government issues tenders upon granting telecommunications licenses. The Government determines from a policy standpoint how many operators to let in. In addition, in 2020, it was reported that the government of Myanmar reportedly threatened to cancel licenses unless their holders complied with demands to block websites, including news outlets. Local government officials also stressed the need for providers to obtain permits to lay fibre-optic cables, build towers, and install Wi-Fi devices.

Myanmar has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

Myanmar has a telecommunications authority: The Posts and Telecommunications Department (Department) under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. However, it is reported that the decision making process of this entity is not fully independent from the government.

Section 27-A(ii) of the Electronic Transactions Law, as amended in 2021 by Law No. 7/2021, mandates the personal data administrator to seek the consent of the owner of data before any data transfer. However, the law does not further regulate the ways in which the owner's consent is sought.

Myanmar has not joined any agreement with binding commitments to open transfers of data across borders.

Myanmar does not have a comprehensive regime in place for all personal data. However, the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens set out provisions for the protection of privacy and security of communications. These are supplemented by sectoral legislation, such as the Telecommunications Law 2013, which contains provisions related to the confidentiality of personal information.

Art. 27 of the Electronic Transactions Law requires personal data administrators to retain personal data for a specified period before destruction. However, the regulation does not define the exact duration for which the data must be retained.

Arts. 75 and 77 of the Telecommunication Law allow the government to intercept, suspend, or obtain any information that threatens national security and the rule of law in the country. The broad provision fails to specify which government agents are authorised to do this and what sort of information specifically constitutes the general terms such as national security.

The Myanmar Copyright Law grants broad exemptions from economic rights, generally referring to the concept of 'fair practice.' Under Art. 24, an individual may reproduce a published work without the Rights Owner's authorisation solely for personal use. However, this reproduction must not result in the misuse of the literary or artistic work or infringe upon the legal rights of the Rights Owner. Notably, this exemption does not apply to the reproduction of works in the following categories: (i) architecture, such as buildings, (ii) musical works, (iii) whole or partial databases on digital platforms, and (iv) computer programs.

Myanmar has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Myanmar has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Myanmar lacks a comprehensive framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets, but there are limited measures addressing some issues related to them. Protection for confidential information comes from the law of contract, so there is no means of protection where no contractual relationship exists. The secret know-how will only be protected on the basis of a mutual legal relation created by agreements (non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements/clauses) signed with subcontractors, licensees, etc., obliging them to keep the information confidential, as well as agreements signed with employees under which they have a duty not to disclose the confidential information, both during the term of their employment and after its termination, and also obliging them (contractors, licensees, employees, etc.) not to use it for competition purposes.
Additionally, Section 19 of the Competition Law 2015 ('the Competition Law') refers to disclosing or using secrets of another business. In particular, no businessman shall, in respect of disclosing secrets of any other business, carry out any of the following acts: infringing security measures protected by the lawful owners of business secrets by accessing and collecting business secrets and information related to such secrets; using or revealing information of business secret without permission of the lawful owner of such business; deceiving a person with an obligation to maintain secrets or abusing the confidence of such person in accessing, collecting, or revealing business secrets and information related to such secrets.

It is reported that there is no obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Myanmar to deliver telecom services to end users. However, it is practised in both the mobile and fixed sectors based on commercial agreements.

Section 3 of the State-Owned Economic Enterprise Law No. 9/89 stipulates that certain activities, including telecommunications services, are reserved exclusively for the State. However, the Government retains the authority to permit, via notification, the execution of these reserved activities through joint ventures between the Government and other individuals or economic organisations. It has been observed that the Government frequently grants exceptions to the exclusive rights of SOEs in various economic sectors, including telecommunications, by allowing joint ventures or issuing special licenses.

It is reported that the military directly controls two of Myanmar's four telecommunications service providers, including military-owned Myteland and Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), originally state-owned and the country's main telecommunications operator. The other two service providers, ATOM (formerly Telenor) and Ooredoo, were run by independent foreign companies prior to the coup but are now owned by companies linked to the military.