Cambodia has 14 million subscribers of mobile phone services: minister

[XINHUA]

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 19 -- There are about 14 million subscribers of mobile phone services in Cambodia, or 98 percent of the country's 14.3 million people, So Khun, minister of Posts and Telecommunications, said on Monday.

The number of mobile phone users had been increasing exponentially and the total number was about 14 million now, up from 10.9 million users by the end of last year, he said during a meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Information and Telecommunications Nguyen Bac Son.

Currently, Cambodia has 8 mobile phone operators: Cam GSM ( Mobitel), Mfone, Hello Axiata Company Limited, CADCOMMS (QB), Metfone (Viettel), GT-Tell (Excell), Sotelco (Beeline), and Smart Mobile.

So Khun said among the operators, Metfone (Viettel) from Vietnam has gained up to 50 percent of the telecommunication market share with up to 7 million subscribers.

The minister said that to date, mobile phone services have covered about 85 percent of the whole Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Bac Son thanked Cambodia for supporting Vietnamese firms investing in Cambodia and promised to encourage more investors to Cambodia to expand trade and investment ties between the two neighbors.

He also pledged to continue supporting Cambodia in the sectors of information and telecommunications.

Nguyen Bac Son arrived here on Dec. 18 for a five-day visit.