Norway’s Telenor gets go-ahead to sell Myanmar venture

By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Norway-based Telenor says authorities in military-ruled Myanmar have approved its plan to sell its telecoms business in the country to the M1 Group, a Lebanese-based investment firm. Telenor Group announced in July that it would sell its businesses in Myanmar after a military takeover last year made it impossible for the company to meet international human rights standards. Critics of the sale fear M1′s local partner, a military-affiliated conglomerate, would be unlikely to resist army requests for information on people suspected of opposing military rule. That could result in breaches of privacy for millions of customers given the threat of reprisals from the military-led administration. More than 1,600 people have died in violence.