MPTC puts an end to free mobile call promotion
Putting an end to a month-long dispute between mobile phone service providers MobiTel and Beeline by trading accusations over price dumping and blocking of between-network calls, Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) issued a directive dated Friday, 04 by setting a minimum charges of US$0.045 per minute for calls within an operator’s network and $0.0595 for calls across networks.
So far, there are 9 mobile service providers operating in the Kingdom of Cambodia with some newer entrants to Cambodia’s telecoms market. The increasingly competitive phone market remain tight-tipped about the pricing rules which was set a minimum traffic charge for calls within network and calls across networks.
Leading phone service operator MobiTel and Russian Phone Company, Beeline accused each other of selling below cost price and blocking interconnectivity in September.
Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, So Khun, said that the government will suspend the license of any phone operators that violate the minimum tariff set by the edit, adding that “we offered free-market principles, but operators kept having feuds with one another, so the government needs to intervene it.”
Without the directive “violators will exploit the other companies with their prices,” said So Khun.
Simon Perkins, chief executive officer of Hello, one of the top four operators by users and an early entrant to the sector, has long been a supporter of minimum pricing and said that stability in the sector will enable operators to return to investing in network expansion and quality improvements, The Phnom Penh Post quoted as saying.
Sources within Mobitel, Hello and Metfone say new competitors have been unfairly benefiting from the infrastructure investments made by older operators, and have been able to offer cheaper services due to lower maintenance fees and equipment costs, reported the Post.
The Cambodia Daily quoted said Simon Perkins as saying that this is a measure that MPTC has had to do because there are no competition laws.” Hello, unlike several other competitors, doesn’t offer free call promotions. He said that Hello could benefit from the directive as some companies raise their prices but that this will depend on the enforcement of the law.
Following the pricing war between phone operators, the government analyzed the cost and profit information submitted by nine mobile phone firms.
Metfone Managing Director Nguyen Duy Tho was quoted by the Post as saying that the Vietnam-backed service provider, which is competing with market leader Mobitel for top spot among the Kingdom’s operators, was unfazed by the new rules.