Yangon  - Myanmar's ruling military junta gave the green light to the use of mobile phones in the capital, Naypyitaw, beginning Thursday, four years after the country's administration and military headquarters moved there.

"CDMA mobiles are allowed for communication from today," an official from Naypyitaw who requested anonymity said Thursday, referring to a technology used to transmit mobile phone signals. "Other mobile systems are being tested."

The use of mobile phones in Naypyitaw, 320 kilometres north of Yangon, had been banned since the junta moved its capital there from Yangon in November 2005. The reason for the prohibition was unknown, but there was speculation that it was because of security concerns.

"I started to use my mobile phone today," a civil servant from one of the ministries said. "Now my family in Yangon can easily contact me via mobile wherever I go here."  (dpa)