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Fibre-optic network links Cambodia

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:54:37 +0000

During the last decade, the telecommunications in Cambodia is growing including new coming mobile phone operators, internet service providers and other online services. Recently, the Cambodia’s government has made its efforts to push for the usage of telecommunications, particularly in public sector.

Recently, the fibre-optic telecommunications networking linking Cambodia with other Greater Mekong Sub-region countries in order to increase speed of communication began operation worth USD17.6 million.

It is a part of the GMS Information Superhighway project, the latest links were built by Chinese telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei Technologies for a total of USD17.6 million. And the links have a network capacity of 2.5 gigabytes per second.

The new 651-kilometre transaction line to Laos will speed up Cambodia’s communication by linking the country to a regional backbone already connecting Thailand, China, Vietnam and Laos.

The fibre-optic networking is stretching from Kampong Cham to the Laos border along National Raod 7, and from Skum city in Kampong Cham province to Siem Reap along National Road 6, work laying the new cable wrapped up in Jully 2009.

It will help improve conditions for people living in the GMS countries, increase telecommunication speeds and push an economic boon in Cambodia. In addition, it will help increase national income by promoting development of ICT, exchanging new technology and information and transmit voice, video, data and internet traffic widely to the world at an acceptable price.

So Khun, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, said that the construction was financed by a soft loan from China’s state-owned Export-Import Bank, and that the new network was under the control of Telecom Cambodia and Enterprise Telecom Laos, reported the Post.

In December 2004, China initiated the establishment of the GMS Information Superhighway project which the memorandum of understanding was signed by the six regional nations. And the work on the latest line began at the end of 2007.

Banks launch sell down of $421m Mobitel loan

admin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 02:05:21 +0000

ANZ and Standard Bank launched the sell down of a US$421 million 18-month bridging loan this week, to back the Royal Group’s acquisition of Millicom’s majority stake in Mobitel.

The loan covers the Royal Group’s November purchase of Luxembourg-based Millicom International Cellular SA’s network operations in the Kingdom for $346 million. The acquisitions included a 58.4 percent holding in Mobitel, Royal Telecom International Co Ltd and Cambodia Broadcasting Service Co Ltd.

The debt-leveraged deal is thought to have given the Royal Group 100 percent ownership of Mobitel in an agreement lead-arranged by ANZ bank.

The loan also refinances debt, including a $100 million loan arranged by International Finance Corporation in 2008.

Royal Group Chief Financial Officer Mark Hanna said Thursday that the loan sell down was “standard procedure” in the acquisition, “the biggest of its kind ever done in the region”.

Highlighting the fact that a Cambodian group was able to buy out a majority stake from a major international company, Hanna said: “It really increases the exposure that Cambodia gets.”

He added that the assets bought from Millicom form “a central part” of the Royal Group’s plans for the future.

A spokeswoman for ANZ, which is book-running and arranging the sell down together with Standard Bank, said via email from Singapore Thursday that the loan was put out for syndication on Monday.

Responses are due in the last week of April this year, she said. Lenders have been invited to join at five ticket levels, Reuters reported Thursday, paying interest of as much as 14.73 percent.

“According to Thomson Reuters LPC data, only eight syndicated loans have been completed in Cambodia, and this facility is the country’s biggest-ever corporate deal,” the ANZ spokeswoman added.

The Royal Group partnered global telecoms company Millicom for a total of 14 years.

After a strategic review of its South-East Asia assets, Millicom decided to sell its holding to its joint partner. On announcing the then prospective deal last August, Mikael Grahne, CEO of Millicom, said in a press release: “We are very proud of having played an important role in the development of the leading mobile operator in Cambodia and are very confident of the continued success of Mobitel and its people within the Royal Group.”

Millicom also approved the sale of its Laotian operations to Russia’s JSC Vimpel-Communications (VimpelCom) for $65 million. Moscow-based Vimpelcom is the parent company of Beeline, the newest entrant to Cambodia’s crowded market for mobile-phone service. It announced last week that it had garnered more than 370,000 active subscribers in the Kingdom since its launch last May.

Last week, Huawei Technologies, China’s largest private hi-tech enterprise, signed a $200 million cooperation agreement with Mobitel to extend its network.

Source: The Phnom Penh Post

Would-Be Critics Quiet on Telecom Rates

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:33:11 +0000

Financial experts here say Cambodia’s political environment has prevented them from investigating the impact of a price floor on telecoms, one of the country’s most lucrative sectors.

By Sunday, all nine mobile phone companies had raised their per-minute rates to meet a standard cost mandated by the ministries of Finance and of Telecommunications, which they said was necessary to prevent a price war.

Costs for Cambodian consumers is now $0.05 to $0.06 per minute, a jump from some of the promotional offers of newer phone companies, some as low as nothing.

Analysts say the ministerial directive is contrary to the investment law and the policies of a free economy, but they are not willing to push further to learn how it might impact consumers and the market.

“If you speak against something, you will be considered as an attacker from an opposition party,” said Chan Sophal, head of the Cambodian Economic Association, an organization of 60 economists. “The bad environment makes these intellectuals not brave enough express themselves.”

Some 500 Cambodian economists can be find working at government institutions, in civil society and for international finance agencies. But few ever seek to intervene in government economic policies, unlike economists in neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam.

Chan Sophal said the government is not open to comments on its economic policies. The telecom price floor, for example, was implemented silently, and only by ministry officials, without public debate, he said.

“As independent economists, we want to provice recommendations,” said Chheng Kimlong, an economics professor at the University of Cambodia. “But we can only talk and our suggestions will not be considered.”

“Especially, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications was known to be careless of other suggestions, but they will issue any directive without accepting any recommendations,” he said.

Government officials reject such accusations.

Telecom Minister So Khun said his ministry had consulted with “many” experts before issuing the directive, though he would not elaborate or name them.

“We welcome all [suggestions], but we can’t answer whether the suggestions can be considered positive or negative,” he said. “My team will check and tell them what to do.”

Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, said the government remains prickly in the face of criticism from independent organizations—a disservice to economic development.

Ros Khemara, another member with the Cambodian Economic Association, said that in order to be professional, economists should make sure they extensively research. This is hard to do, he said, if they know their results will be ignored by the government.

Business lawyers, too, can find the environment challenging, said Ly Tay Seng, president of HBS Law Firm and Consultants.

“There are not many lawyers who want to express their opinion against the government, because they are worried it will impact their business,” he said.

Source: VOA Khmer

Cambodia signs three MOUs with China

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:29:42 +0000

Official visit to Cambodia during three days, Chinese Vice-premier Hui Liangyu has signed three memorandums of understanding with Sok An, deputy Prime Minister and Ministers of Councils, on Thursday.

An agreement signed between the both countries is to encourage the investors from China to visit and focus more and more on Cambodia.

Ek Tha, deputy director of the Council of Ministers’ press department, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that “the signing today between the Chinese and Cambodian government are another step in strengthening the two countries’ cooperation in all fields.”

Ek Tha added that Huawei Technologies, China’s largest private hi-tech enterprise, signed a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and Cambodian mobile-phone operator CamGSM

End to Mobile phone dispute

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:54:09 +0000

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.

Smart Mobile launched its Roaming service

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:50:35 +0000

In the last few years, the telecommunications sector is increasing after several mobile phone service providers have made investment in Cambodia. In addition, there are completions for control of Cambodia’s mobile phone market.

In order to facilitate its users, Smart Mobile recently launched Roaming Service for its users who are using Smart.Corporate postpaid tariffs. All subscribers using this service are able to connect with any countries by making calls and sending SMS while they are traveling abroad.

Most of phone companies have already set up Roaming service for phone’s users to be easy to make phone calling and text message while using it abroad.

For Smart Mobile’s users, they can receive an SMS free of charge but sending message will be charged 50 cents, it is no matter in which country the subscribers actually is. By the way, receiving a call will be charged US$1 per minute in most of the countries.

Smart Mobile Company entered Cambodia’s phone market on October of last year. So far, it is extending its network coverage across the country, by covering 11 provinces.

“In Cambodian’s competitive market we aim to offer always the most attractive tariff rates, whether it is calling to other Smart Mobile subscribers, to other operators in Cambodia, for making international calls or for sending SMS or making calls while abroad. To stay connected wherever you are, in particular also during travel for business or leisure is becoming in a globalized world more and more important! We see more and more Cambodian’s to travel outside of Cambodia, especially for business purposes. The launch of our Roaming service is another commitment to serve our customers to their full satisfaction and to use the favorable services and tariffs of Smart Mobile anytime and anywhere,” Mr. Thomas Hundt, Smart Mobile’s CEO, said in the statement.

“We are working every day to ensure that our subscribers can enjoy our service anytime, anywhere in Phnom Penh, in provinces and now also outside the country,” added he.

By the growth of telecoms sector, so far, there are more than 4 million of phone users, and less than US$ 30 million the State earned per year. Nine mobile phone operators are running in Cambodia’s phone market, which MobiTel held a 55 percent of market share at the end of last year.

Mobile phone firm cooperated with commercial bank

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:43:22 +0000

Smart Mobile has cooperation with Cambodia’s leading commercial bank ACLEDA to offer credit top-ups at ATMs. The phone operator signed a deal with the bank in February.

Mobile service provider Smart Mobile (093/010) entered within the Cambodian telecoms market with a world-class team of telecommunications experts offering experience from across Cambodia and across the globe.

From today on, Smart Mobile’s subscribers will be able to recharge their cell phone balance through ACLEDA’s ATMs throughout the country 24 hours a day and 7 days a week without any service charge. The Phone operator setting up this new service is to make it easier for phone’s users to recharge the mobile phone balance.

According to the statement, in the near future top-up through ATM will be available at other banks as well.

Kiril Mankovsky, Smart Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer, was quoted by the Post as saying that “Smart Mobile was in the final stage of negotiations with other banks in the Kingdom, but that it was not ready to make any formal announcements until the deals are signed.”

The easy instruction for recharging phone balance is following:

Insert bank’s ATM card into ATM machine
Select language, Insert 6-digit PIN
Select transaction type mobile phone recharge
Select Smart Mobile
Select account type
Select recharge amount
Take your receipt on which a serial number for recharging your Smart Mobile phone balance printed out
Enter the serial number into your mobile phone correctly, and the amount you selected will be added to your phone balance immediately.

On the other hand, all Smart Mobile’s users can top up their accounts with scratch cards sold everywhere, and also use WING’s card, which the phone provider has already signed a deal with ANZ bank’s WING to offer electronic top-up. The system would be based on a pin-code access service to add to the scratch card credit system offered by Smart Mobile.

Telecom Industry Booming, as Competition Rises

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:58:22 +0000

Advertisements for every mobile phone network in Cambodia can be seen in newspapers, on television, on the street and in supermarkets. Companies are reducing prices, giving away air time and, in some cases, giving away phones.

Nine companies in fact are fighting for customers in the most competitive environment in a decade.

Gary Foo, chief of marketing manager of Hello, which is owned by Malaysia’s Axiata Group, said his company was facing its toughest competition since it arrived in 1997.]

“It is one of the most competitive markets in the world, actually, just because of the fact that there are too many players in the market,” he said. That has led led to a slowdown in new subscribers, he said.

Thomas Hundt, CEO of Smart Mobile, which is invested in by Russia’s Timeturn holdings, said the market is competitive but still potentially alluring.

“At the present moment, the market is giving enough room to grow,” he said. “A lot of people are using more than one sim card. They are even using more than three sim cards. Especially the young people: they have plenty of choices, and they are jumping from one to another operator.”

Consumers are benefiting from the increase in competition.

For example, Smart Mobile responded to the new environment by offering two hours of free talking each day, and by putting a game room and restaurant at the company’s office center.

The government gets a piece too.

Telecom investment increased from $30 million in mid-2008 to $234 million in mid-2009, according to figures from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. The investment brings some $30 million dollar annually to Cambodia’s government.

Prior to 2008, only four mobile phone operators existed in Cambodia: Khmer Royal Group’s Mobitel, Thai Shin Satellite’s Mfone, Axiata’s Hello, and Applifone’s Star-Cell.

One year later, five more players entered, Cube, owned by Cambodian-Israeli Cambodia Advance Communication; Excell, owned by Cambodia’s GT-TELL; Metfone, owned by Vietnamese’s Viettle; Smart Mobile’s Latelz and Beeline, with investment from Russia’s VimpelCom.

That’s nine mobile phone operators for 14 million people, compared to China’s three state-run companies for 1.3 billion people, or four companies each in Vietnam and Thailand, which have, respectively, 80 million and 60 million people.

(More than 4 million Cambodians use mobile phones, an increase of 1 million in the past year alone.)

However, without a telecommunications law, a tough competitive market has led to disputes. Beeline, for example, was accused of violating pricing regulations by Mobitel and others.

The competition “will bring the prices down, and users will have m ore choices from that,” said Sarak Khan, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication.

The ministry has created a special team, which is preparing new regulations to ensure fair competition, he said.

Simon Perkins, CEO of Beeline, said mobile operators have to look at their finances in order to survive in this environment, and some companies will likely not make it.

“Some people entering the market, trying to compete and to survive, they don’t often succeed, because they face stronger opponents,” he said. “It is a natural way for some companies to go into bankruptcy.”

Sam Kong Kea, corporate affairs officer of Star-Cell, agreed. He said companies are now hardly generating revenue and only huge financial operators will be able to survive this market.

(Source: VOA)

Khmer News: Cambodia news | Cambodian economy | Banking sector | Agricutlure | Technology | Education » Telecomunication industry

Fibre-optic network links Cambodia

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