To Myanmar where child labor remains a major problem. Companies are being urged by their peers not to hire under-age workers. This is a small village a two and a half hour drive from Yangon. Crews are laying the foundation for a mobile transmission tower.

But work is stopped when an inspector from mobile operator, Telenor arrives for a surprise check.

Not only is he checking over safety precautions, he's also checking for underage workers.

The minimum age for working in a hazardous job like this is 18 years old.

No issues here. But across the country, child labor is common.

"It's a major problem for anyone who wants to do business in Myanmar and live by what we normally recognize as international standards," said Petter Furberg, CEO of Telenor Myanmar.

Child laborers mostly poor, supporting families

One in five children aged between 10 and 17 goes to work instead of school in Myanmar. These kids are typically poor and help support their families. Even non-hazardous work in Myanmar cannot legally be performed by anyone younger than 14.

But this 13-year-old girl is carrying baskets of gravel and working alongside grown men.

For every 20 baskets she carries, she'll get the equivalent of about one US dollar. The International Labor Organization explains why child labor is entrenched in this country.

"Where the poverty is, the child labor is," said Piyamal Pichaiwongse from International Labor Organization.

Telenor depends upon contractors and subcontractors to build its network of towers.

Telenor says it currently has about 150 towers being built along with 250 tea shops where it's SIM cards are sold. It says it tries to inspect each one of these sites at least once a month.

Businesses urged not to contract under-age workers

Telenor has fired five supervisors at constructions sites for using under age workers and the contracts with five tea shops have been terminated.

The hope is other companies will also take a strong stand.

"We believe through transparency we show that is a real problem and these are the means we are putting in place to fix it that others also will follow. We believe that transparency will help Myanmar get a better reputation in terms of lifting the standards for health and safety and under-age labor," said Petter Furberg.

Although some companies are on board, it will take a lot more to weed out child labor.