[PHNOM PENH POST]
AMONG the most competitive mobile phone sectors on the planet, Cambodia
in January saw nine operators drop to eight competing for just 15
million people when Smart Mobile merged with Star Cell in a market that
has mostly competed on call charges over the past two years.
But
news last week that Smart Mobile is set to roll out 3.75G mobile
internet across the country by the end of next month confirms the mobile
sector is increasingly engaging in a full-on battle to deliver the
fastest web access as the country remains devoid of a logical,
transparent licensing process.
With its new faster mobile
internet, Smart Mobile has moved to the front of the sector in terms of
technology including Mobitel, Hello and qb. Hello claims to run its 3.5G
wireless modem at speeds of up to 3.6 megabits per minute, while qb has
claimed speeds of 14.4 mbps since January, which would be matched by
Smart Mobile’s new service. But this position may not last much longer –
new operator Emaxx has said it plans to launch 4G mobile internet next
year at what would be even faster connection speeds.
While these
multiple investments are all good for competition and therefore
certainly the consumer – Cambodia’s mobile internet speeds have
accelerated over a very short space of time – for the companies involved
the playing field remains uncertain.
Even though the area of
completion is expanding, the question remains: are these operators
developing a long-term competitive advantage that will see them carve
out greater market share and sustainable profits?
Or are they
digging themselves in a bigger financial hole in a hugely competitive
market that still has overlapping bandwidth, no telecoms law, no
separate regulator and zero licensing transparency?
Emaxx is a
case in point. After an overlapping-bandwidth issue, its chief
operating offi-cer, Frank May, told The Post in March that Viettel and
Russian firm Altech had also been awarded 4G licences.
Countries
such as India and Thailand have cleaned up their licensing processes,
giving operators a clear understanding of who their competitors are, but
in Cambodia this informat-ion remains hazy.
That means all are
essentially developing multi-million dollar wireless infrastructure
without knowing whether another company is negotiating the
latest-technology licence with the sector’s supposed regulator, the
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
For companies such as
Smart, these investments are a calculated risk. They hope that, by
investing to stay ahead of the game, they will generate a competitive
advantage that will aid long-term survival.
But we won’t know
how this evolving mobile internet competition plays out until the 4G
service providers launch in coming months. Meanwhile, operators that
have staked claims on the market by investing in lesser technology will
be hoping they can still compete.
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