State’s Phone Firm To Offer Mobile Service

Telecom Cambodia, the state-own­ed company set to take over land-line telephone services from the Ministry of Post and Telecom­munications, will also offer mobile tele­phone services in a new joint-ven­ture with an as yet unannoun­ced private company.

“We have already prepared the frequency for the new mobile phones, and the prices will be the same as private operators,” Minis­ter of Post and Telecommuni­ca­tions So Khun announced Thurs­day.

So Khun said the mobile service was being set up to directly compete with other mobile operators in the Cambodian market.

“If we don’t operate a mobile [phone service], we won’t be able to compete with others,” he said.

Telecom Cambodia, which still exists only on paper, will be better at generating profits than MPTC, So Khun predicted. He added that in 2004 MPTC’s revenue was $36.7 million, up 19.6 percent from 2003.

Telecom Cambodia’s newly created board includes representatives from MPTC, the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Interior and the Finance Ministry, but So Khun emphasized that the working entity will “be an independent company.”

So Khun denied reports that AZ Ltd was already a signed-up partner for the mobile phone service. AZ is run by CPP lawmaker Ung Bun Hoav and maintains the toll road concession on National Route 4 and also has a concession to operate voice-over-the-Internet calls.

“It is up to the board of the company to seek other companies to work with. Until now we don’t know what companies it will be working with,” So Khun said.

Last month MPTC announced that Telecom Cambodia and Post Cambodia would be extracted from the ministry and that the government would assess the value of the ministry’s assets, buildings and equipment, before transferring them to the two fledgling com­panies.

MPTC property has been as­ses­s­ed at roughly $60 million, So Khun said.

But opposition lawmaker Son Chhay said that figure was estimated too low and that an independent audit of property must be conducted if the state is to protect against losing money on the privatization deal.

In terms of finding an investment partner for the new joint ventures, Son Chhay said bids should be open to all and transparent.

“MPTC has to announce a public bidding process and has to declare its assets before [hand],” Son Chhay said.

Opposition lawmaker Keo Re­my also criticized MPTC for not in­­forming the National Assembly of the new plans for the ministry and warned that if debts owed to the ministry are not cataloged, they may disappear with the privatization process.

The World Bank has long urg­ed the government to separate the regulatory functions of MPTC from its land-line and postal business.

“Generally speaking…we see better potential for improved efficiency and quality of service under a corporate rather than ministerial structure,” the Bank’s lead global telecommunications specialist Peter Smith wrote in an e-mail Thursday.

The World Bank has not re­viewed the privatization process in­volved in Telecom Cambodia, but “like any state-owned enterprise in any country, financial results should be audited and published,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Erik Wasson and Prak Chan Thul)

 

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