Vietnam's Hanel DTT Technology Joint Stock Company recently signed a cooperation agreement with Sundrew Myanmar Company to build an open e-government platform (OEP) based on open source technologies in Myanmar.

Under the agreement, which marks an advance in bringing Vietnamese technology into the world, the two sides agreed to share their resources to implement e-government projects in Southeast Asia , and work in government-to-government (G2G) systems on the projects.

They will also exchange information, experience, technology and experts to build OEP communities in order to expand OEP functions and carry out projects of the two countries.

OEP has been carried out in Hanoi, Da Nang city and in the fourth level of public healthcare services of the Ministry of Health. The OEP 1.1 version is expected to be released at the end of 2014, with basic functions meeting the demands of authorities for managing citizens and exchanging data with other cities and ministries.

The OEP 2.0 version will be launched in 2015 with improved functions to support technologies such as cloud computing, mobility and big data.

DTT has been providing solutions for e-government and enterprise integration for enterprises and organisations in Vietnam. Its parent firm, Hanel Limited Company, which was established in 1984, focuses on different fields including electronics, computers and telecom; real estate and financial management; and building infrastructure for hi-tech parks.

Earlier, VNPT International, a member company of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), also inaugurated its first representative office in Yangon .

At the opening ceremony, VNPT member companies signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Burmese telecom enterprises under which VNPT-I will continue to cooperate with its partner, the A1 Construction Company Ltd, to implement telecom and software products and IT solutions.

VINASAT centre, under the management of VNPT's subsidiary Vietnam Telecom International (VTI), will provide satellite bands for the Myanmar Ministry of Defence.

VNPT and the Elite Telecom Public Company Limited will also survey the market and set up a plan to establish a joint venture to provide Internet services there.

In a meeting with Vietnam's Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son in Nay Pyi Taw on September 22, Myanmar President Thein Sein said that Vietnam and Myanmar have signed an agreement to cooperate with each other in 12 fields, including telecoms and IT.

He added that Myanmar will focus on investing in the two above-mentioned sectors in the near future, and affirmed that the country will help Vietnamese enterprises in all fields, especially in telecoms and IT, to learn about the Burmese market to enhance co-operation.

Myanmar is considered to be an emerging telecoms market. At the end of 2012, only 5.4 million of its 60 million people, equivalent to nine percent, owned mobile phones, compared to 70 percent in Cambodia, 87 percent in Laos and 100 percent in Thailand .

The government of Myanmar aims to increase the number of mobile phone users to 75-80 percent by 2016.-VNA