Ericsson is bullish on Cambodia
Small retailers gather at the Thai Chamber of Commerce yesterday to draw up a letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, protesting about the expansion of UK giant Tesco ‘hurting local Thai retailers’.
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Swedish telecom company Ericsson is upbeat about its business growth in Cambodia, thanks to the forecast growth of mobile-phone subscribers and the availability of third-generation (3G) licences.
The company opened its first office in the capital of Phnom Penh on Monday, in order to foster its operations and expand its market share there.Ericsson had previously run its business in Cambodia from Thailand for 10 years. Jan Signell, president of Ericsson Southeast Asia, cited analysts' reports that the number of mobile-phone subscribers in Cambodia was expected to grow to more than 3 million by 2010, up from 1.4 million as of this past June. There are only around 40,000 fixed-telephone subscribers in Cambodia. There were around 1.2 million mobile-phone users in Cambodia last year, up from 900,000 in 2004. The country has a population of almost 14 million. The main mobile operators in Cambodia include market leader MobiTel, Cambodia Shinawatra and Cambodia Samart Communication. Their combined average monthly revenues per user are US$9 to $11 (Bt337 to Bt412). Ericsson is currently the main network provider for Cambodia Samart, which soon will be renamed Telekom Malaysia International (Cambodia), after Thai telecom firm Samart Corp Plc divested its stake to partner Telekom Malaysia early this year. Of total mobile-phone users in Cambodia, 98 per cent use a prepaid service. "The market has a high potential in terms of economy and the network market. People in Cambodia buy new mobile phones every eight months, and many have owned more than one device," said Pichit Satapattayanont, Ericsson Thailand's vice president for new accounts. One more cellular operator is expected to enter the Cambodian market, which would lead to fiercer competition and an expansion of subscribers and the network. Ericsson is also upbeat about the granting of 3G licences in Cambodia to telecom operators, including MobiTel and Cambodia Samart. "3G is happening, and we expect the 2G [second generation] service to continue growing in parallel," said Hans Karlsson, country manager of Ericsson Thailand and Indochina. Ericsson recently won a deal from Cambodia Samart to roll out 100 conventional cellular base stations across the country by the end of the year. Pichit claimed Ericsson's strength was its ability to provide network expansion on a turnkey basis, starting from exploring the areas for installing stations to network installation and network management. Besides tapping the network market, Pichit said the company was interested in providing a telecom infrastructure to upcoming industrial zones. Sirivish Toomgum, The Nation, Phnom Penh
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