Introduced a decade and a half ago under Myanmar’s former military rulers, SIM cards sold for as much as $7,000 apiece. Today, they still cost more than $200. From Thursday, lucky winners of a lottery-style sale may get one for as little as $2.

This is telecoms deregulation, Myanmar-style.

The lottery is a first tentative step into a telecoms revolution that has transformed societies and spurred economic growth across the globe – and could be a game changer for Myanmar, emerging from decades of isolation and mismanagement that have left it Asia’s second-poorest nation after Afghanistan.

FULL STORY: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/24/us-myanmar-telecoms-draw-idUSBRE93N1AX20130424