On 24 Mar 2002 at 3:50, matthew X wrote:
Myanmar goes wild with email
Correspondents in Yangon
MARCH 19, 2002
YANGON: Some 10,000 new email accounts will be handed out to
members of the
public in Myanmar, where until now only 4000 carefully selected
citizens
have had access to the technology.
The Myanmar Times reported the email accounts would go online
within the
next few weeks to users in the capital Yangon and the northern city
of
Mandalay.
It did not say who they would go to, but the recipients are likely to be
privileged figures or prominent businesspeople in the military-
controlled
nation, where access to all forms of communication is severely
restricted.
Bagan Cybertech, a semi-government organisation, will issue the
accounts as
well as provide internet access to government departments and a
limited
number of other organisations.
The new email users will also have access to some 800 sites on the
web as
well as about 50 on the local intranet, the company's director Htein
Win says.
"The issue of these new email accounts will see a steep rise in
internet
usage. Since 1997, Myanma Posts and Telecommunication was the
only email
and internet service provider and accounts were limited," he says.
Travel agents and tour operators, IT companies, exporters and
importers had
expressed interest, he says.
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There is less in this than meets the eye.
Tellulah Bankhead
[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.open-forge.org
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