Khmer Internet: Cambodia Case Study
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KHMER INTERNET: CAMBODIA CASE STUDY March 2002 INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION GENEVA, SWITZERLAND Michael Minges, Vanessa Gray and Lucy Firth wrote this report Nathalie Delmas handled formatting and production The report is based on field research undertaken 9-13 July 2001 as well as documents and articles identified in the footnotes We would like to thank Camnet for arranging the meetings Appreciation is also ex- tended to Norbert Klein (Open Forum of Cambodia) and Helen Jarvis (Advisor to the Council of Ministers) for their valuable comments on the draft version of this report The views expressed are those of the authors and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), its members or the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia This report is one of a series of Internet Case Studies being carried out in the South East Asia region Additional information is available on the Internet Case Studies web site <wwwituint/ITU-D/ict/cs> © ITU 2002 ii Contents 1 Country background 1 11 Overview 1 12 Demography 1 13 Economy 2 14 Human development 3 15 Government 3 2 Telecommunications: Made for Mobile 5 21 Mobile record setter5 22 Mighty MPTC 6 23 ASEAN investing 7 24 Prefix city 8 25 International cash cow 9 26 All phones lead to Phnom Penh 10 27 How much does it cost 11 28 Mobile data 12 3 The Internet: The state of being underdeveloped 13 31 Internet for Development 13 32 Better late than never 13 33 The market players 13 34 Mobile operator goes Internet 16 35 How can anyone afford it? 17 36 Bandwidth blues 18 37 Lets interconnect 19 38 Public access 19 39 The light touch 20 4 E-applications: The Development Dilemma 22 41 Clean water, PCs or both? 22 42 Not an e-government 22 43 E-schooling 25 44 E-health 27 45 e-commerce 28 5 Conclusions 33 51 State of the Internet in Cambodia 33 52 Recommendations 34 Annex 1: List of meetings 37 Annex 2: Acronyms and abbreviations 38 Annex 3: Useful links 39 Annex 4: Framework dimensions 40 iii Figures 11 Map of Cambodia 1 21 The world's most wireless place 5 22 Cambodia telecom market 8 41 Young but not well-educated 25 51 State of Internet in Cambodia 33 Tables 11 Population indicators 2 12 Human Development Indicators 3 21 Cambodian telecom service operators 7 22 Prefix soup 9 23 Cambodia's international call tariffs 9 24 Fixed telephone tariffs 11 25 Mobile pricing 11 31 Cambodia's Internet players 15 32 Dial-up Internet pricing 17 33 Cambodia's Internet connections 19 41 Cambodian government online 23 42 Cambodia at school 26 Boxes 31 The international development community, Cambodia and the Internet 14 32 The tribulations of the Khmer font 20 41 The Prime Minister on ICT 24 42 E-villages and E-charity: A conundrum 27 43 KIDS in the e-café 30 44 E-archiving: Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it 30 iv 1 Country background 1 Country background 11 Overview Figure 11: Map of Cambodia The Kingdom of Cambodia, with an area of 181035 square kilometres, is located in South East Asia, on the south-western part of the Indochina Peninsula( It is bordered by Thailand on the west and north-west, by Lao PDR on the north, and by Vietnam on the east and south-east( Cambodia is bounded by the Gulf of Thailand on the south- west with a coastline that is 435 kilometres long( Cambodia is known for its cultural heritage and the impressive Angkor temples represent the countrys Source: World Factbook, 2001 major tourist attraction, with some one million visitors expected in 2002( The temples were built between the the Dangrek Mountains in the north, 9th and the 13th century in the religious along the Thai border( and administrative centre of the Khmer Kingdom( Administratively, the country is divided into 20 provinces, four Situated between the Tropic of Cancer municipalities and 12738 villages( and the Equator, Cambodia has a tropical climate with two distinct 12 Demography1 seasons: the dry monsoon season from November to May and the humid, The national census in 1998 counted rainy monsoon season from June to a population of 11(4 million( The October( Annual average temperature majority of the population is rural, varies between 21 to 35 degrees with only 16 percent residing in urban Celsius, often reaching over areas( Cambodias capital is Phnom 40 degrees in April, the hottest Penh, with a population of about one month( The landscape is dominated million( With an estimated annual by the large Tonle Sap (Great Lake), growth rate of 2(4 percent, the as well as the Mekong and Bassac population is expected to double rivers that run through the countrys within less than 30 years( Fifty five Central Plain( While some 75 percent percent of the population is under the of the country is flat, the more densely age of 20 and 71 percent of the male forested and sparsely populated population is under 30( With relatively highlands comprise the Cardamom fewer adult men, about a quarter of Mountains in the southwest, including Cambodias households are headed by the countrys highest mountain women( The population is predomi- (Phnom Aural, at 1771 meters) and nantly Khmer (around 90 percent), 1 Cambodia Internet Case Study Table 11: Population indicators likely to have a growing impact on the economy since its annual average ,WHPà <HDUÃà growth has been some 7RWDOÃ3RSXODWLRQà PLOOLRQ à à ten percent since 1990, 3RSXODWLRQÃ*URZWKÃ5DWHà à compared to two per- $YHUDJHÃOLIHÃH[SHFWDQF\ÃDWÃELUWKà à cent for the agricultural \HDUV à à sector and eight percent xà 0DOHà à for the service sector( xà )HPDOHà à After many years of war 8UEDQÃSRSXODWLRQÃ È Ã Ã and internal conflict, a $JHÃ'LVWULEXWLRQà à stabilizing political %HORZÃÃ\HDUVÃ È Ã Ã environment has led to Ã\HDUVÃ È Ã Ã an improved economic Ã\HDUVÃDQGÃROGHUÃ È Ã Ã performance and the economy has been Source: National Institute of Statistics, Cambodia growing slowly but steadily in the last few years( Economic growth was five percent in some five percent are Chinese and five 1999, four percent in 2000 (despite percent Vietnamese( The official that years devastating floods) and is language, spoken by 95 percent of the projected to be 5(5 percent in 2001( population, is Khmer( There is some Cambodias most important exports use of French and English( French include garments, processed wood, tends to be understood mainly by natural rubber, tobacco, and rice( Its older people while English is more main markets are Thailand, USA, commonly understood by the younger Singapore, and China(3 Forestry could generation( Theravada Buddhism is be a major income for the government the religion of virtually all of the ethnic but illegal logging is estimated to have Khmer and of about 95 percent of the cost the government US$ 60 million population( in 1997 (two percent of GDP)( Deforestation is also a threat to the 13 Economy2 environment, and efforts are being made to balance the countrys natural Cambodia is one of the poorest resources as well as the revenues they countries in the world( In 1999 its GNP could generate( was US$ 3(1 billion and its GNP per capita US$ 260, compared to an Average annual inflation dropped to average GNP per capita of US$ 1000 four percent in 1999, compared to in the East Asia and Pacific Region( almost 15 percent in 1998( At Thirty six percent of the population 74 percent of GNP (US$ 2(3 billion) in lives below the poverty line and 1999, total external debt was down 90 percent of the poor are in rural from 79 percent in 1998, and areas( The Cambodian economy is 160 percent in 1989( Foreign aid of largely based on the primary sector US$ 24 per capita in 1999 remains a (fishing, farming, and forestry), which major source of foreign currency in employs 82 percent of the workforce( Cambodia( A major problem the The industrial infrastructure of the country faces is the lack of a private country is poorly developed and the sector( One of the biggest barriers to sector accounts for only three percent private investment is an often of employment( Services account for unpredictable and unstable regulatory the remaining 15 percent of the labour framework( The government sector is force( In 1999 the primary sector thus a major target for reform in represented 50 percent of the total Cambodia( The country suffers from GDP, services amounted to 35 percent corruption and the lack of tax and and industry accounted for customs enforcement( Tax revenues 21 percent( The industrial sector is represent only six percent of the 2 1 Country background countrys GDP( The government has capita( Table 1(2 shows that the HDI started to implement different varies greatly in the ASEAN region and measures to fight corruption, improve that Cambodia, together with Laos, the transparency of the public sector has the regions lowest HDI( and strengthen the legal and judicial Cambodias history of war and internal system and reforms( Entry to the conflict have had a detrimental impact Association of South East Asian on the countrys social and economic Nations (ASEAN) is likely to have a structure( positive influence on the political as well as economic situation( According 15 Government to the Asian Development Bank, Cambodia has made considerable Cambodia has a long history, and its progress in implementing liberali- culture goes back at least to the zation measures and structural reform South-East Asian Hindu state of Funan in the past few years( in the first century( It is known for the Kingdom of Angkor, which has its 14 Human development4 origin in the eighth century( Weakened