ˇ@Chapter VIII:TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES
Before 1993, the telecommunication sector in Cambodia was extremely poor and limited due to the lack of competent technicians and engineers and the skill of management. That was the main factor to hinder the development of telecommunication sector in Cambodia. After United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) installed the satellite system valued at US$35 million in 1993, the telecommunication between Phnom Penh City and some provinces has been rapidly improved. In order to expand telecommunication activities, the Government decided to open the telecommunication sector to private companies in 1994. But the services and telecommunication facilities were not enough distributed through the country.
The current telephone rate is so high that most of people still cannot afford especially international phone call. Under the assistance of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the new national development plan for telecommunication was prepared to develop the National Network Master Plan in Cambodia, which includes for main project components (Phnom Penh, Provinces and Rural Networks).
According to the ITU statistic, there are 0.8 phone lines per 1,000 people in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, there are 14 lines for 1,000 inhabitants. Since June 1997, two Internet service providers are available in Phnom Penh. But Internet service is not yet widely available due to the very high cost of service.
Although the telecommunication sector has been opened to private investment, the tariffs are fixed by the Ministry according to mechanisms that are not necessarily appropriate in a market economy.
The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has revised the phone tariffs to reduce international phone charges by 12 percent and cutting prices for land installation and usage by half. The new tariffs became effective on March 01, 2001. Under the phone tariffs, consumers pay US$1.50 per minute for call to neighboring countries, US$1.60 for calls to Asia and US$1.80 to the rest of the world. Prices are further reduced on weekend to US$1.35, US$1.44 and US$1.62 respectively. These prices are applied for both the state-owned gateway (prefix 011) and Mobitel Tele 2 (prefix 007).
For installation of the state-owned landlines, the charge has been reduced to US$70.00 from US$150.00. Monthly rental fee of such lines are now US$8.00 in Phnom Penh and US$6.00 in provinces compared to US$13.00 and US$10.00 respectively.
Phone charges for domestic calls using land lines remain the same; US$0.01 per minute for the local call and US$0.15 for long distance calls. The phone call from landlines to Mobitel phones also remain the same at US$0.15 per minute. Cambodiaˇ¦s leading mobile phone company, Mobitel company, will invest another US$63 millions to expand its network nationwide in three years.
The Ministry is lacking specialists in pricing and tariff formation, procedures, rules and market economy mechanisms. The international calls have a 20% discount on weekends, but preferential day/night tariffs are not adopted yet for lack of experts in this particular field. The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and Private Mobile Telephone companies have to closely work together (training and educating the Cambodia staff) to improve the management skill, price control, services and to build the local capacities because the high telephone rate is also a main obstacle to the development of economic growth.
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