YANGON, Oct. 4(Xinhua)-- A Hong Kong company, the SS8 Networks Inc., has agreed with an information and communication technology(ICT) company of Myanmar to run security services for internet service providers(ISP) in Myanmar, a local press reported Tuesday.

The agreement was reached recently on-line between the HK company and the Ahaed Co. Ltd. of Myanmar, the Voice quoted the Myanmar company as saying.

Under the agreement, security services will be provided for information data of domestic internet subscribers against uncovering and interruption of them.

The HK company has links with over 200 customer ISP in the world, providing security services for them, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar company reached a memorandum of understanding(MoU) with a Canadian ICT company, the Teleglobe, in September to run an ISP in Myanmar as part of the country's bid toexpand such services, earlier reports said.

That ISP is becoming the second in the country and the internet-based telephone system will be extensively used after the establishment. The current private ISP in Myanmar went to the Bagan Cybertech Co., which had initiated the internet and the internet-based telephone system in 2001 in cooperation with the Shin Satellite Co. of Thailand.

According to official statistics, the number of internet users in Myanmar has stood over 70,000 since it was introduced. The number of subscribers rose 133 percent within a year from 2003 when it was only 30,000.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has launched some e-government systems including e-visa, e-passport, and e-procurement to improve management efficiency of government bodies.

Myanmar introduced e-education system in early 2001. Being a signatory to the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement initiated at the regional summit in Singapore in 2000, Myanmar has also formed the e-National task Force to support the IT development.

The country has also signed a series of MoUs with companies from Malaysia, Thailand and an ASEAN organization on ICT development. Enditem