Cambodia Case Study
A Least Developed Country, the Kingdom of Cambodia faces a number of barriers
that impede the development of the Internet. The country has the dubious
distinction of having the lowest Internet penetration in South East Asia as well
as the region's highest prices.
International development initiatives have played a great role in launching,
providing and nurturing the Internet and several grass-roots projects have
helped to introduce Cambodians to cyberspace. The Internet market has been open
to new operators since July 2001 and cellular operator MobilTel, has launched a
broadband wireless service. The fact that Cambodia has very few fixed lines
(4000 lines for a population of some 9.3 million), has largely contributed to
the country's mobile success. Cambodia was the first country in the world where
mobile telephone subscribers passed fixed ones (way back in 1993) and it began
the millennium with more than four out of five telephone subscribers using a
wireless phone, the highest ratio in the world. The competitive mobile market
has further been boosted by prepaid cards, which make up 90 per cent of the
market.
A mission to Cambodia was carried out from July 8-12,
2001, involving Michael Minges and Vanessa Gray. The mission and interviews were
coordinated with the Ministry of Posts and
Telecommunications of Cambodia (MPTC).
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