The Myanmar Telecommunication authorities will add 40,000 more new Global System for Mobile (GSM) phone lines in the city of Yangon to facilitate users as part of its bid to enhance the development of the telecommunication sectors, a local weekly reported Monday.

With the existing 81,000 GSM lines in operation, the number of them will be brought to over 120,000 after the addition, the Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) was quoted by the Weekly Eleven News as saying.

Under the current population in Yangon, which stands at 5.2 million now, there will be one GSM phone per 43 persons in the near future, the sources said.

Besides, the authorities is also planning to add more new GSM lines in other cities such as Mandalay, Monywa, Magway and Mawlamyine

Since last year, two Chinese telecommunication companies, the Alcatel Shanghai Bell Co and the ZTE company have been involved in Myanmar's GSM expansion projects under contracts.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has planned to raise its telephone density by up to 3 percent within the next two years. The country's present telephone density stands at 0.8 percent that is 8 per 1, 000 people out of its population.

Myanmar now has 416,000 telephone lines and 63,150 mobile ones.

Myanmar introduced the cellular system in 1993, followed by the DECT and CDMA systems in 1997 and the GSM system in 2002.

The MPT remains at present the only mobile phone service provider in Myanmar.

Source: Xinhua