Questions about the situation of Internet in Cambodia

I got email from Clogger Google group sent by Geoffrey Cain who is the Freelance Journalist in Cambodia. He is writing article called “The State of the Internet in Cambodia” for Southeastern Globe magazine. And then he sent his questions to all group members to give comments.

At the mean time, Borin who is Cambodian blogger answered the above questions by his own thoughts as following:

1. In 1993, Cambodia became the first country to have a larger number of mobile phone users than landline users. Do you think any factors contributed to this other than landlines being destroyed from civil war?

The reason that we have more mobile subscription more than landline could be the easiness in reaching out to the customer, with the coming of GSM technology the complicated process of subscribe to the service become easy (with prepaid service). Second, the cost, in my belief, some country the cost of landline telephone is much lower than the cost of mobile. So when considering making a call people often chooses landline. But, in the Cambodia, case the cost of landline is even higher than cost of mobile in most of the cases. Although, the cost of landline to landline call is cheaper, but, what’s the point? When 90% of the person you are going to call is not land line.

2. Has firm progress been made with Internet in the past 5 years? 10 years? What else needs to be done?

Progress made with the internet in the past 5 years? 10 years? What else need to be done? Yeah progress has been made, from the slow 56kbps dial up, to the 2mbps 3G mobile connection. But considering the pace in which this industry is moving compare to neighboring country it is way slower. Again the problem is cost, with the current cost of internet, you have bring an Alien technology, still it doesn’t help Cambodian people get access to internet.  Another Progress: from the few ISP to many ISP, yet still the cost is not affordable by most of Cambodian.  For the suggestion of what can be done, I would say, deregulation, and create more gateway bandwidth link to other country, and fight corruption. Also, one question should be asked: Is there a political will for the government to allow all Cambodian to have access to internet?

3. What sort of future does Cambodia have with the Internet? Will the digital divide close, in your opinion?

What short of future does internet have in Cambodia? My opinion is in the short-term, cost might come down a bit, yet only small percentage of people will have access to internet. In the long-run, 10-20year, things are hard to predict. But you can’t stop internet from growing.

4. Why do you think Internet prices in Cambodia so high compared to Vietnam and Thailand? Why the price is so high?

Well, a dollar in Cambodia is worth more a dollar than other country considering the amount of goods a dollar can get here and there. Spending 20 dollars for internet connection is OK if you have income of 1,000 dollars a month, but it’s not ok when you earn 50 dollars a month. So, although these days the internet cost is considerably cheaper than the past, but, look at our per capita GDP, it is not possible for average Cambodian to have internet connection.

5. How does the Internet help you with your job, your studies, or everyday life? Are you frustrated with Internet problems or does the net run smoothly? How does it help?

I have to say now I can’t live without it. It help me get the information I need for my job, study, or business. I can be consider as a giant library with everything in it, but, you have to use the information cautiously, who know, anyone can write any on the internet. To be internet is a kind of freedom I need, when it’s gone sometime I feel like part of my freedom are taken away. So, yeah I am frustrated when the connection goes down, luckily, I have a reliable internet with me all the time. You should treat internet service as a form of necessity services, not a luxury service any more. Any one should have rights to the information on the internet.