Chapter 14 - Telecommunications

Summary

Information and communications technology (ICT) refers both to the technologies of information and to telecommunications equipment and services. These two technological sectors, which were clearly separate at their inception, have converged considerably in recent years.

The telecommunications landscape in Cambodia in the last decade has seen major structural changes: liberalization of markets and arrival of new inputs. The ongoing development of networks and telecommunications services is of crucial importance for Cambodia's economy. At the micro level, telecommunications has become a full-fledged factor of production. At the macroeconomic level, the telecommunications and computer sector has become an essential engine of economic growth. The added value of the telecommunications sector has more than quadrupled, rising from US$15.6 million, or 0.56% of the GDP in 1994, to US$65.5 million, or 0.9% of the GDP in 2006. This structural change has created a series of issues for policy management. The lowering of tariffs and the development of new technologies (ADSL, VOIP) are two such issues.

In response to technological developments, particularly the growing convergence between telecommunications, information technologies and the media, and recognizing the vast development potential of the telecom industry, especially the Internet, the RGC drew up the Communications Law, which will be enacted soon by the National Assembly. The Communications Law addresses the following objectives:

1. • Develop the policy with regard to communications development and regulation and

2. • Establish a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services.

Laws and Institutional Regulatory Framework

Till the early 1990s, the telecommunications industry was viewed as a national monopoly. The management of telecommunications, which basically meant the national telephone lines, both domestic and border telephone links, and data transmission and the postal service, was handled exclusively by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) created in 1993.

The liberalization of the telecommunications sector, underway since the 1990s, intends to open the market to the private sector and competition and attract investments into the sector. Starting in 1992, the RGC signed a number of joint venture agreements with foreign telecom companies, granting them operating concessions.