The agreement to sell Telenor Myanmar to M1 Group for US$105 million will ensure continued operations of its fixed and wireless networks, it said.

“The situation in Myanmar has over the past months become increasingly challenging for Telenor for people security, regulatory and compliance reasons,” Telenor Chief Executive Sigve Brekke was quoted as saying in a statement.

“We have evaluated all options and believe a sale of the company is the best possible solution in this situation,” he said.

Telenor was pushed deep into the red in the first quarter after it was forced to write down all its assets in Myanmar, taking their value from 6.5 billion kroner to zero.

Telenor has had a commercial presence in Myanmar since 2014 and employs a workforce of around 750 in the country.

Myanmar has been rocked by massive protests and a brutal military response since the February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and her government.

More than 880 civilians have been killed in a crackdown by the State Administration Council – as the junta calls itself – and almost 6,500 arrested, according to a local monitoring group.

NGOs have urged foreign companies to review their presence in Myanmar.

The junta has vested interests in swathes of the country’s economy, from mining to banking, oil and tourism.

M1 Group is the holding company of the Lebanese Mikati brothers. It holds a major stake in the MTN mobile operator that is a leader in Africa but which is also active in Asia.

The sale is subject to regulator approval by the authorities in Myanmar.