Myanmar SIM Card Recharge: How to Top Up in 2026
✅ Last verified on-the-ground: 2026-07-17
You bought your SIM at Yangon International, and you’ll need a myanmar sim recharge before your data runs dry. A Myanmar SIM doesn’t come with unlimited credit, so you’ll be recharging every few days. Here’s how to top up without getting scammed or stuck. See our Sea Backpacking Hub for trip planning.
Quick Answers
| What | Answer | Price (INR) |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest top-up denomination (MPT, Ooredoo) | 1,000 MMK scratch cards at any grocer or teashop | ₹481 (~$4.99) |
| Largest standard top-up (both operators) | 50,000 MMK scratch cards or via mobile wallet | ₹24,065 (~$249.43) |
| USSD code to check balance (MPT / Ooredoo) | *124# / *124# | Free |
| Tourist SIM itself (7-day, ~5GB data) | ₹289 (~3 USD) at Yangon/Mandalay airport counters | ₹289 (~$3) |
| Where to buy scratch cards in Yangon | Any 7-Eleven, Family Mart, tea shop, or street vendor with a telco logo | Varies |
All MMK prices below use the live rate of 1 MMK ≈ ₹0.4813 (1 INR ≈ 2.077 MMK) verified on 2026-07-17.
Understanding Myanmar’s SIM Recharge System
Myanmar has two operational mobile operators Indian travellers will realistically use in 2026: MPT (Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, state-linked) and Ooredoo Myanmar (Qatari-owned). Telenor exited Myanmar in 2022 and its operations were sold to a local consortium. See our Myanmar SIM card guide for which one Indian travellers should pick on arrival. All three use the same basic recharge methods. None of them require an app login for a basic top-up, which is the first thing to know if you bought a tourist SIM and the counter guy just handed you a phone and a SIM tray.
There are four ways to recharge:
- Scratch cards (physical, sold at every corner store)
- USSD codes (dial 123PIN# and press call)
- Mobile apps (MyMPT, My Ooredoo, MyTelenor)
- Mobile wallets (Wave Money, OK$ via uab bank, KBZ Pay) that route through the operator
Cash is still king in Myanmar. Travellers report scratch cards and USSD are the most reliable methods in 2026 because app-based top-ups sometimes fail for foreign-registered SIMs, and mobile-wallet top-ups require a local SIM-linked wallet, which you can’t open with a tourist SIM. For a 28-day e-Visa trip, scratch cards and USSD will get you through. Check visa appointment info before you fly.
How to Top Up with a Scratch Card (All Operators)
This is the method 90% of tourists use, because scratch cards are sold literally everywhere and you don’t need a smartphone, app, or internet connection to make the top-up work. If you haven’t picked an operator yet, our 2025 SIM comparison breaks down MPT vs Ooredoo vs Telenor.
Step-by-step:
- Walk into any tea shop, convenience store, mobile recharge stall, or 7-Eleven. Look for the operator’s logo on the cards. Cards come in denominations of 1,000 MMK, 3,000 MMK, 5,000 MMK, 10,000 MMK, 20,000 MMK, and 50,000 MMK.
- Say the operator name and the amount you want. Vendors in Yangon, Mandalay, and Bagan understand “MPT 5,000” or “Ooredoo 10,000” without you speaking Burmese.
- Pay cash in MMK. The vendor scratches the back to reveal a 12-16 digit PIN number.
- Dial the operator’s scratch-card top-up USSD (for example, 123PIN# for MPT) and press call. Wait 5-10 seconds. You’ll receive an SMS confirming the top-up.
- If you don’t see the confirmation SMS within 30 seconds, dial *124# (balance check) to confirm the credit landed.
Gotcha: scratch card PINs are single-use. Once the PIN is exposed, it’s exposed. Vendors sometimes try to sell already-partially-used cards to tourists, so only buy cards that are scratched in front of you. If a vendor pre-scratches and hands you a piece of paper with a number, refuse and find another shop.
How to Top Up via USSD (Direct Dial, No Card Needed)
USSD top-ups let you reload your account using a mobile wallet, someone else’s phone, or a bank’s USSD banking service. Most tourists don’t use this, but it’s a useful fallback if scratch cards are unavailable where you are.
| Operator | Top-up USSD | Balance check | Data balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| MPT | *123# | *124# | *223# |
| Ooredoo | *123# | *124# | *129# |
USSD-only top-ups require a linked mobile wallet or bank, which means a tourist SIM often can’t use this method. Travellers report USSD works for balance checks (always free) but not always for top-ups on tourist-registered SIMs. Scratch cards remain the safer bet.
How to Top Up via Mobile Apps
Each operator has its own app. They handle recharge, plan purchases, and balance checks in one place. Pair this with our Myanmar packing list so your phone kit (power bank, SIM ejector, local cash) is sorted before you fly.
MPT: MyMPT App
Available on iOS and Android. Register with your tourist SIM number, set a 4-digit PIN, and you can top up via:
- Linked Visa/Mastercard (foreign cards sometimes work, sometimes don’t; travellers report intermittent acceptance on Indian-issued cards)
- Wave Money or KBZ Pay transfer (requires a separate local wallet)
- In-app e-voucher purchase
IOS: MyMPT on App Store Android: MyMPT on Google Play
Ooredoo: My Ooredoo App
Cleaner interface than MPT. Same options: foreign card, mobile wallet, e-voucher.
IOS: My Ooredoo on App Store Android: My Ooredoo on Google Play
Real-talk Warning About Apps
Travellers consistently report that app-based top-ups with Indian-issued Visa/Mastercard fail more often than they succeed. Operator verification systems on tourist SIMs sometimes flag foreign cards as suspicious and block the transaction. The standard advice from long-term travellers: keep the apps for checking balance and buying data plans, but use scratch cards for actual top-ups.
Data Plan Extensions: How to Add More Data, Not Just Talk Time
If your balance is fine but data runs out, you buy a data pack, not a top-up. This is the second-most-common mistake tourists make: recharging 50,000 MMK of talk credit when they needed a 7-day data pack for 7,000-10,000 MMK. Confirm your IMEI is registered first via our IMEI check guide.
Each operator offers similar packs:
MPT Data Packs (2026)
- 1-day, 1 GB: 500 MMK
- 7-day, 5 GB: 5,000 MMK
- 30-day, 25 GB: 20,000 MMK
- 30-day, 50 GB: 35,000 MMK
Dial *223# to subscribe.
Ooredoo Data Packs (2026)
- 1-day, 1.5 GB: 500 MMK
- 7-day, 6 GB: 5,000 MMK
- 30-day, 30 GB: 22,000 MMK
Dial *129# to subscribe.
All of these are deducted from your main balance, so you need at least 500 MMK talk credit to subscribe to anything. If your balance is at zero, recharge with a scratch card first.
Where to Buy Scratch Cards in Major Tourist Cities
Yangon (the easiest)
Every block in downtown Yangon has at least three places selling scratch cards. The most reliable spots:
- Any 7-Eleven (around 10-15 in Yangon city centre). Ask for “phone card” and the operator name.
- Family Mart on 34th Street, near the Bogyoke Market.
- Tea shops (the small wooden/metal ones serving milk tea on every corner). Most sell scratch cards behind the counter.
- Mobile recharge stalls at Mahabandoola Garden corner.
- Sule Pagoda Road small shops.
Mandalay
Scratch cards are slightly harder to find in Mandalay’s tourist areas. Reliable spots:
- 7-Eleven near Zay Cho (Zaycho) market.
- The street behind the Mandalay Palace wall, near the 26th Street tea shops.
- Mobile recharge kiosks at the central bus station and the airport arrival hall.
Bagan
This is where tourists get stuck. Bagan’s Nyaung U and Old Bagan have limited scratch card vendors, and they keep strange hours. Plan ahead:
- Tea shops on the main road in Nyaung U usually have cards from around 6 AM to 8 PM.
- A few shops near the Shwezigon Pagoda entrance sell cards.
- Stock up in Mandalay before heading to Bagan, or carry enough credit for your full stay.
Avoiding Common Tourist Mistakes
Buying from “Agents” Who Pre-Scratch the Card
Travellers report vendor-side partial-use issues in tourist zones, where a card’s full PIN isn’t always applied to your top-up. Solution: always scratch the card yourself and dial the USSD code yourself. The whole process takes 10 seconds.
Confusing Top-up Credit with Data Pack Credit
These are two different balances on most Myanmar operators. A 5,000 MMK top-up gives you 5,000 MMK of talk + SMS + data, but if you burn through it fast, you can buy a separate 30-day data pack that’s cheaper per GB. Check both balances via USSD before deciding.
Holding Foreign Currency for SIM Top-ups
No operator accepts USD, INR, or THB at the recharge counter. You need MMK. Foreign exchange at Myanmar ATMs or currency exchanges in Yangon and Mandalay will solve this. Before you go, scan current promo codes for SIM bundles. ATMs in Myanmar typically dispense large-denomination kyat notes (commonly 10,000 and 20,000 MMK), so you’ll want to break these into smaller notes at a tea shop or convenience store before recharging.
Recharging on the Last Day of Validity
Each top-up (scratch card or app-based) extends your SIM’s validity by a fixed number of days, usually 30 days for MPT and 60 days for Ooredoo. If your SIM expires and you recharge within the grace period (typically 30 days), it reactivates. If you miss the grace window, your number is gone. Travellers report losing numbers after returning to Myanmar 6+ months later expecting their SIM to work.
Subodh’s Pro Tip: Keep a 5,000 MMK top-up as an emergency buffer. If your SIM goes silent mid-trip (no signal, balance at zero, in a small town with no vendors), that buffer buys you 24-48 hours of mobile data to find a recharge stall or contact help.
Safety Alert: Myanmar’s mobile network infrastructure has been periodically disrupted since 2021, particularly outside main cities and in border regions. Travellers report sudden 24-72 hour outages with no advance notice. Don’t rely solely on a Myanmar SIM for safety-critical communication. Carry a SafetyWing travel insurance emergency contact number (paper-backup) and a fully-charged power bank, and let someone in India know your offline location whenever you move between cities.
Quick Reference: Cheapest Daily Recharge Plan (28-Day Trip)
For an Indian backpacker using GPS maps, Grab-style apps, and messaging:
| Need | Operator choice | Daily top-up | Total for 28 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light user (maps + WhatsApp) | MPT or Ooredoo | 1,500 MMK/day in 3,000-5,000 MMK cards | 42,000 MMK |
| Medium user (above + video calls) | MPT | 2,500 MMK/day in 5,000-10,000 MMK cards | 70,000 MMK |
| Heavy user (above + uploads/streams) | MPT or Ooredoo | 4,000 MMK/day with 30-day data pack | 112,000 MMK + 22,000 MMK data pack |
At current rates (1 MMK ≈ ₹0.4813), a heavy user’s 134,000 MMK ≈ ₹64,494 for a full 28-day trip. Most Indian travellers on a backpacker budget land in the light-user category around ₹20,215 (~$209.52).
Alternative If You Don’t Want to Recharge Locally
If you’d rather not deal with scratch cards, USSD codes, and small MMK notes, Get Nomad eSIM for Myanmar lets you buy data plans online in INR via UPI before you land. Coverage piggybacks on local operators (MPT or Ooredoo towers) but the SIM management, top-ups, and data plan extensions all happen in the Nomad app. The catch: some travellers report Nomad throttles speeds more aggressively than a local tourist SIM, and you’ll still need a local SIM for city-specific apps and call-based services that require a Myanmar number (think Grab verification, hotel booking confirmations, and certain tour operators). For more on which operator to pick on arrival, see our Myanmar SIM card guide for Indian travellers.
For a typical 28-day Myanmar trip, the practical split most Indian travellers settle on: local tourist SIM for calls/SMS/primary data + Nomad eSIM as a backup when the local network is patchy (common in Bagan, Inle Lake, and rural areas).
What Happens When You Leave Myanmar
Foreign-registered tourist SIMs are usually deactivated 30-60 days after your departure. You don’t get a refund on remaining balance. Travellers report MPT is the strictest on this, Ooredoo the most lenient (sometimes keeping balance active for 90 days). Neither operator will port your number for reuse; once your tourist SIM expires, the number is gone.
If you’re returning within 30 days and want the same number, ask the airport counter at Yangon or Mandalay to “extend” rather than issue a new SIM. They may charge a small reactivation fee (1,000-3,000 MMK, reported variously by travellers).
FAQ
Can I recharge a Myanmar SIM with a foreign Visa or Mastercard? Sometimes, via the operator’s mobile app. Indian travellers report success rates around 40-60%, with transactions declining more often than they succeed. Scratch cards in cash remain the more reliable method.
What is the cheapest top-up I can buy? 1,000 MMK scratch cards, available at every corner store for all three operators. 1,000 MMK ≈ ₹481 (~$4.99), enough for 1-2 days of light use.
Can I recharge my SIM at the airport? Yes, Yangon and Mandalay international airports have SIM and recharge counters in arrivals. Rates are the same as city vendors, but selection is sometimes limited to larger denominations.
Why is my balance not showing the top-up? Wait 30 seconds and dial *124# (MPT/Ooredoo) or *888# (Telenor). If the balance is unchanged, redial the USSD code with the PIN. If still nothing, your card PIN may have been entered incorrectly or the card may be inactive. Vendor will replace inactive cards on the spot.
What if I run out of data but have plenty of talk credit? Buy a data pack, not a top-up. Each operator has 1-day, 7-day, and 30-day packs starting from 500 MMK.
Can someone in India recharge my Myanmar SIM? No. Recharge requires a Myanmar phone number, a Myanmar-issued mobile wallet, or a Myanmar-registered payment card. None of these are accessible from India.
How do I know when my SIM will expire? Dial *124# (MPT/Ooredoo) or *888# (Telenor). The validity is shown as “Valid until [date].” Each top-up extends it by 30-60 days depending on the operator and the top-up amount.
