Mobile network provider Emaxx has pulled out of the retail sector and entered into a joint venture with a Hong Kong company to invest up to $148 million in strengthening Cambodia’s communications infrastructure.
Company officials announced at a press conference Wednesday their ambitious goal to offer super-fast Internet to 80 percent of the population.
Emaxx announced that KeyBridge International Co. has acquired a 65 percent stake in the Cambodian telecoms company, with the new joint venture set to launch in October.
“We will build up a backbone network with a 400 Gb per second bandwidth covering all optical fiber communication in the whole kingdom,” Emaxx’s new chairman, Ye Qiong, said.
Mr. Qiong added that Emaxx will invest and build 600 4G base stations for high speed wireless communication for mobile phones. They will be in six major cities, including Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville.
Mr. Qiong said other companies will benefit from Emaxx’s focus on network infrastructure.
“By leaving the market, [other] companies will not have to spend money on development on their own network which will benefit consumers with cheaper prices and a more efficient service,” he said.
Emaxx entered the Cambodian mobile market in 2011 when then-chief operating officer Frank May announced the company would pioneer 4G—capable of allowing users to download data up to 10 times faster than 3G devices.
But that plan never came to fruition, and Mr. May was imprisoned in 2012 over charges of fraud and using a forged document.
Thomas Hundt, CEO of Smart Mobile, said yesterday his company remains the only network offering 4G in Cambodia, adding that he had not heard of Emaxx’s project.
“We are willing to listen to Emaxx’s project, but we are still investing in our own network,” he said.
