Amotorist passes by an office of the local internet service provider EZECOM in Phnom Penh yesterday.

MAl
Local ISP claims licence
overlap is causing losses
Sarah Thust. Anne Reoz.enbrink
and SeunSon
LEAST one inte r
AJ
net service p rovi der
in Cambodia still
'Iaims to have over
lapping freque ncies, wh ich
means losses for the affected
company MekongNet.
The company's chief ex
ecutivl;;!, Sok Channda, re
pOfted tha t the in terne t ser
vice provider ca n'l use the
freq uenc ies that were s up
posed to cove r the WIMAX
service, whereby th e int e rnet
ca n be accessed wirelesslyat
long range.
Besi des using WiMAX, the
licences also allow call s, in
ternet access and arhe r da ta
services.
According to Ken Cha n
than, rhairman of the lnfor
maHon and Commllnica
tiOll Technology Al:isociatlon
of Cambodia and CEO and
chairman of the Ke n Group,
the re i s a lack of telecom
regulation in Cambodia, and
there isn't a clear rule con
cerning the iss lling of licenc
es for the frequencies.
"\ thi n k t he pr ivate sec
tor. especially t he tele
co ms o per ators t hemselves
should p ll s h t he telecoms
law," he sai d.
lnSeptember2012, theMI I1
istry of Posts and Telecom
munications launchet.! the
Tel.ecom munication Regula
tor 01 Cambodl a a 5 a sepa
ra te entity.
A ministry release stat
ed: "The establishment of
t he Telecom ReguJator or
Cambodi a will improve the
telecom sector's present
managemen t sysrem by sep
arating the funrtional roles
o f the Minis lry of Post and
Telecom."
It is thE' nrst io dependent
regulatOT for the tele<.:o m
munlC3lions seclor in Cam
vodia, bu t irs opport ll niti es
to control the seGLOr wi ll be
limited because there is no
overarching law governing
the teleconununicaLions sec
lOr in Cambodia. although a
draft Law exists.
According to a Royal De
cree from March of last year,
the Telecom Regulator of
ambodia will, above all .
"implemen t policy or the
tel ecommunicat ions sector,
which shall be lieveloped
by the Minisler of Posts and
Tel ecom municalions" ant.!
"u rge to have an appropriate
telecommunications sector
structure",
"So fa r, the establishment
of t b.e Telecom Regulator of
CambodIa has brought no
changes." Channda told the
Posc. Instead, the company's
complaints to rhe
remained unanswered.
Ek Vandy, secretary of state
or the Ministry of Posts tlnd
Telecommunications, sait.!
yesterday lhat lhe mmisrr y
has neve r received any com
plaints from i nternel service
providers.
"We have never issued over
lapping licences, so we never
got complainls frolll compa
nies, " he said. "If Ihere were
a problem, theywould blame
us, saying that we dOIl 't
work. We would have dealt
With it , if we woul d have is
sued overl apping licences,
but we did not," Vafl dy told
the Post yesterday.
Channcla, however, "aid:
"We invested $2 lniJUon in
the \l\;lMAX services, b Ul d ue
to the overlapping frequen
cies we can' t run the service.
ThaI means a loss for us. We
don' t see any hope anymore
to solve thls problem. "
In March 201 1. EmuxxTclc
com reporled similar prob
lems. Whil e it planned to
have 75 WiMA.'( towers by the
end or the yea r. its freq uen
cy range had already been
cl aimed by ot her i.nLe rn et
service providers.
Chief Operations Officer
Frank May t old the Post in
20 ) 1 that Emaxx's parent
company, Digi tal Star, had
one of the three 4G licences
awarded in Cambodia, add
ing the other two had gone
to Viettel and HU5si 3n firm
Altcch.
Whether the compa ny has
si nce solved the problem
remained uru:lear yesterday
because the management of
Emaxx could not be reached
for conunent .
Accordi ng to Inge Ol de
Rikkert. internet service pro
vider EZECOM'S marketing
manager, EZECOM has not
been affected by the overlap
ping claims.
"Thi s i s not an issue lhat
affects or has affected P.zF
COM, " she sai d.
In 2010, seven compa
nies affected by lice nsing
of the 2.5GHz 10 2.7GHz
range wrote a joint letter 10
the Prime Mi nister over t he
issue.
The Can1bodian marker is
shared by 40 internet service
provi ders.
. ... _ .. - .---_
economy through the diversifi
cationofI!X-port items and Itheirl
destination, " he said..
Ngoun Sokha, director gen
eral for the National Bank of
Cambodia. said the Kingdom's
export destinations had broad
ened even funher.
"Now, the economicliiversifi
cation is visualised because we
are now not only depending on
the US or t.he EU but also [Q
ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific, etc,"
she said.
Despite IMP d alms, rap id
credit growth in Cambodia
of "no concern" because the
NBC Jlad increased the I'CSmve
requi.J:ement lasryear to prevent
any blowout, Sokha said.
In the report , the I MF nngcred
rapid credit gruwUl as oneorthe
biggest risks to theeconomy lIDt
ing that. at 37 per cem, the cred
it-to-GDP ratio is far above tbat
of other low-income CQunlTies
The iMF report also found
that while lax revenue coll ec
tion had improved, the govern
ment should "full y leverage on
simultaneous reforms in reve
nue adminis!rdtJon, tax policies,
and governance".
Tax collection reached $740_5
million in 2012, a 25 per ce nt
year- on -year increase. according
lo a General Department of
Taxation press
OppositJon Sam Rainsy Party
whi p Son Chhaysaid that lhough
that fi gure could be accurdte,
increases would be due to
stronger implemen tation last
yearoflhe 2011 properfytax, but
that corruption in taxcoUection
remained unchecked.
' You have to know that the
increase is nO! based on the ab il
ity to work more tr,msparen Il y
but is more to do \l\ith the Il e1.V
taxes that have bee n created.
he IMf forecasted the real
medium teonGOP growth at 7. 5
per cent wiLh 6. 7 percent growth
expected this year.
q" - ..f!9d.M.. '"