Google CEO Eric Schmidt gestures during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, California November 15, 2010.

YANGON | Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:36pm EDT

YANGON (Reuters) - Google Inc Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who visited North Korea in January, will become the first high-profile tech company executive to visit Myanmar in the wake of reforms that prompted Western nations to ease sanctions following decades of military dictatorship.

The visit next week to Myanmar, where Schmidt will speak at a technology and communications park and meet with government officials, is just one stop in a multi-country Asian tour to promote Internet access, according to Google.

Since Myanmar's military stepped aside and a quasi-civilian government was installed in 2011, setting off a wave of political and economic reforms, the country has enjoyed a surge of interest from overseas businesses.

The former Burma is the last virgin territory for businesses in Asia, with untapped markets including the telecoms sector: mobile penetration in the country of 60 million is estimated to be a meager 5-10 percent.

Unlike Schmidt's controversial visit to Pyongyang, in which Google described as a "personal" trip, the visit to Myanmar falls within his mandate as executive chairman, which involves government outreach, thought leadership and building partnerships and business relationships, the company said.

But Schmidt, who was Google's chief executive from 2001 to 2011, is becoming more visible on issues involving technology and world affairs.

His book, "The New Digital Age", due to hit bookshelves in April, was co-authored with Google Ideas chief Jared Cohen, who had previously worked at the U.S. State Department.

According to an early review in The Wall Street Journal, the authors criticize China for being an enthusiastic "filterer of information" and a "prolific" hacker of foreign companies. During Schmidt's tenure as Google's chief, the company famously pulled out of China after a dispute over censorship and hacking.

"Eric (Schmidt) is visiting several countries in Asia to connect with local partners and Googlers who are working to improve the lives of many millions of people across the region by helping them get online and access the world's information for the first time in the next few years," Google said in a statement. His trip also includes India.

In November, Schmidt visited Seoul, Taipei and Beijing.

WHISTLE-STOP

The Myanmar trip will be Schmidt's second visit this year to a country off the beaten track. In January he went to North Korea, saying it was a personal trip to talk about a free and open Internet.

Schmidt is due to give a speech at the Myanmar Information and Communication Technology Park in Yangon on March 22, before making his way to the capital, Naypyitaw, to meet senior government officials, said Zaw Min Oo, secretary general of the Myanmar Computer Society.

"There will be an audience of about 400, comprising entrepreneurs, executive committee members of the computer association and young leaders," Zaw Min Oo told Reuters, referring to the speech.

Myanmar's planned modernization of telecoms infrastructure and expected boom in mobile phone usage will pave the way for the entry of companies such as Google, which could profit greatly through sales of cheap smartphones built around its Android platform.

In February the U.S. Treasury Department issued a general license for four of Myanmar's biggest banks, two of which are owned by tycoons associated with the former junta, before a visit by 50 U.S. executives that month to explore opportunities.

The delegation, led by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and including Cisco Systems Inc, Google, Hewlett-Packard Co, Intel Corp, and Microsoft Corp, visited Myanmar to look into projects to boost access to the Internet, strengthen transparent government and expand digital literacy, according to a USAID statement.

Many leading firms in Myanmar are still largely controlled by businessmen subject to sanctions, but Western companies are starting to move in after the implementation of a new foreign investment law.

Myanmar is offering two operating licenses for companies to build new telecoms infrastructure.

MTN Group, Africa's largest mobile phone company, which is bidding for a license, has said around 90 companies have expressed interest.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; Writing by Paul Carsten in Bangkok; Editing by Alan Raybould, Pravin Char and Richard Chang)

View the original article here

Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt poses prior to a meeting at the Culture Ministry in Paris October 29, 2012.

SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Jan 2, 2013 11:28pm EST

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, will travel this year to reclusive North Korea, where Internet use is subject to some of the world's tightest controls, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Schmidt, one of the highest-profile leaders of the U.S. technology industry, could visit as early as this month, the AP said. The announcement was made days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the third member of his family to rule the country since its inception in the Cold War, signaled a willingness to improve relations with South Korea.

It was unclear whom Schmidt will meet or what his agenda might be, the AP reported. Internet access is largely restricted to all but the most influential officials of the reclusive state. Media content is also rigidly controlled, although basic 3G cellphone use is said to be rapidly expanding.

Google did not directly respond to a question about whether Schmidt was going to North Korea, although a spokeswoman's response suggested a visit would not be for company business.

"We do not comment on personal travel," spokeswoman Samantha Smith said when asked about the AP report.

Schmidt, Google's main political and government relations representative, has also been a prominent supporter of President Barack Obama.

Google famously espouses a "do no evil" philosophy and campaigns for Internet freedom. It pulled its search service from mainland China in 2010, relocating it to Hong Kong because it said it could not conform with censorship requirements.

Last year, the company flew in North Korean defectors from Seoul for a panel discussion at a summit it hosted focusing on global illicit networks. It has also hosted North Korean officials in Silicon Valley, according to the Asia Foundation, which co-hosted part of a trip by the North Korean delegation.

"I think this is part of Google's broader vision to bring the Internet to the world, and North Korea is the last frontier," said Peter Beck, the South Korean representative of the Asia Foundation, a non-profit organization. "I suspect that Google's visit is more philanthropic than financial."

Beck said the North Korea delegation had been shown a Google Earth view of their capital Pyongyang.

Schmidt is writing, with former U.S. state department official Jared Cohen, a book due in April called "The New Digital Age." It will address how the Internet and technology can empower people and drive fundamental social, political and economic change.

"Perhaps the most intriguing part of this trip is simply the idea of it. The restricted control of information lies at the heart of the DPRK state and yet it is about to host one of the West's greatest facilitators of borderless information flows," said Victor Cha, a senior adviser and Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

"If Google is the first small step in piercing the information bubble in Pyongyang, it could be a very interesting development," Cha wrote on the center's website on Wednesday.

FIRST-TIMER

Schmidt's visit will make him one of the most prominent American businessmen to visit the country.

The AP cited two people familiar with his plans as saying the ex-Google CEO will join a private group led by former United Nations Ambassador and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, a frequent visitor to North Korea.

Their visit follows a long-range rocket launch that has triggered a drive for further United Nations sanctions. North Korea is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests.

A second aspect of Schmidt's visit as part of Richardon's delegation could be to try to obtain the release of Korean-American tourist Kenneth Bae, accused of crimes against the state. Richardson has helped negotiate the release of detained Americans in the past.

"Richardson has had a history of trying to jump-start dialogue at low points in the U.S.-DPRK nuclear talks. He is a well-known quantity to North Koreans and does have credibility with them," Cha wrote.

(Reporting By Edwin Chan; Additional reporting by David Chance in SEOUL; Editing by Tim Dobbyn, Andre Grenon and Ron Popeski; eddie.chan@thomsonreuters.com; +1 415 677 2533; Reuters Messaging: eddie.chan.reuters.com@reuters.net)

View the original article here