MYANMA Post and Telecommunications (MPT) has started a project to double the number of public telephones in Yangon by the end of the 2007-2008 financial year ending next March, said an MPT official.

“We are expanding the number of public phones at existing public call offices (PCOs) and we are also opening new PCOs in areas of Yangon where there were none before,” the official said.

He said the expansion was occurring in three phases, with 25 percent of the 1600 new telephones to be installed in the first phase, 25pc in the second and the remaining 50pc in the third.

MPT has completed nearly half of the first phase, which started in August, he said.

“When we are finished there will be double the amount of public phones there used to be in Yangon so people will be able to access them more conveniently,” he said.

The official said MPT was also monitoring activity at PCOs to ensure that staff were not overcharging people for phone calls.

Meanwhile, MPT is working to increase the number of public phones in other towns throughout Myanmar by the end of the fiscal year.

He said that in the near future some PCOs in Yangon and other towns will also be converted into public access centres (PACs) that will provide internet access as well as phone service.

“To be transformed into a PAC, a site has to be in a secure area, under shelter and have access to 24-hour electricity,” the official said.

“We will upgrade a PCO at Yangon General Post Office into a PAC and the second one we will convert will be at Thanlyin post office. These sites meet the three criteria,” he said.