Posts Tagged ‘Mobile phone service provider’

Lawsuit of two mobile phone operators not solved yet

Cambodia’s leading mobile phone provider Mobitel filed a lawsuit against new mobile phone operator Beeline by accusing of using Mobitel-mobile phone prefixes without permission. Even though, this conflict does not turn into normal as what Beeline’s general director said on Monday.

Conflict between two phone operators has yet to be solved and Beeline is still the subject of a $2.5 million suit currently before Phnom Penh Municipal Court- $1.5million in damages and $1million compensation to Mobitel.

Beeline’s General Director- Gael Campan, said that the relation between the two phone operators were back to normal after Mobitel filed a lawsuit against Beeline last year.

Vietnam owned mobile phone tested new 3G network

Viettel, Vietnam-owned mobile phone service provider, got started its business in Cambodia at the end of 2008, being popular amongst mobile users. The company plans to install 1,500 3G stations in the first quarter, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

Nguyen Duy Tho was quoted by the Post as saying that “currently, we are testing 3G to prepare for an official launching of this service in 2010.”

Nguyen Duy Tho gave Viettel’s ambitious targets for Cambodia in the longer term. The Vietnamese operator is aiming to capture 40 percent of the overall mobile market, 80 percent of the broadband Internet market and 80 percent of the telecoms landline market, the paper continued.

Free mobile call promotions end, ministry said.

The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) plans to announce a new directive by setting a minimum calling prices and putting an end for free call promotion, after the ongoing dispute between mobile phone service providers Beeline and MobiTel.

In September, Beeline accused leading phone operator, MobiTel, of blocking calls from its network to MobiTel’s customers, and in turn MobiTel accused Beeline of charging calling price below &0.06 for between-network calls.

Prime Minister Hun Send issued a letter by warning mobile phone service providers that they could face the loss of their operating license if they still continue to block between-network calls and to give below cost calls to their customers.

The Cambodia Daily quoted Simon Perkins, CEO of Hello network as saying that his company had receive a copy of the directive and was still determining its exact meaning. But he added that he understood the minimum price for between-network calls to be $0.07 and pricing on in-network calls to be &0.05.

End to Mobile phone dispute

Cambodia’s ongoing feuding between Mobile Phone firms happened more than one month, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hen Sen released statement dated Oct 21 by warming that mobile phone service providers will face with lose of license if they still block cross-network calls and sell call below costs.

Leading mobile phone service provider, MobiTel, last month accused Russian phone firm, Beeline, of giving below cost calls and of the irresponsible business practice of price dumping. And Beeline accused MobiTel of blocking calling within interconnectivities.

“The Royal Government will take strict action against any telecommunications operator who does not respect this order and still continue to block cross network connections or competes dishonestly leading to chaos in Cambodia’s telecommunications market,” read the premier’s letter.

So far, there are 9 phone operators with more than 4 million users in Cambodia’s phone market.

It is the third government intervention in the last month for concerning pricing and interconnection issues in the telecoms sector.

Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon and Minister of Posts and Telecommunications So Khun issued a letter dated September 29 ordering the phone companies to stop any unfair promotions or interconnection problems that could bring crisis to the telecoms industry.

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