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Cambodia: Internet users surge to 17.5M as gov’t moves to digital economy
Cambodia has over 17.6 million internet subscribers as of October, increasing from 1.6 million registered as of 2020, according to the report of the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia.
The report stated the mobile internet users are 17.2 million.
As of October last year, the mobile phone subscribers were 20 million, 125 percent compared to the total population of 16 million.
In Cambodia, there are 5 mobile internet service providers and 35 fixed internet service providers, of which 2G mobile coverage covers 92 percent of the total population. 3G mobile coverage is 85 percent and 4G mobile coverage is 82 percent.
There are two submarine fiber optic cables, of which the first submarine fiber cable connects Cambodia to Thailand and Malaysia and the second cable connects Cambodia to 18 countries of Asia, Africa and Europe.
However, the telecommunications structure does not yet cover the whole country, as the fourth generation (4G) mobile network is serving about 80 percent of the population.
Currently, the government has a strategy to strengthen and expand mobile infrastructure and high-speed Internet through 4th generation mobile services (4G) to reach the 5th generation mobile services (5G) and promote the construction of fiber-optic infrastructure under sea and high-speed internet infrastructure to all communes nationwide.
The Kingdom has officially announced the implementation of its “Digital Economy and Social Policy Framework of Cambodia 2021-2035” policy.
It identifies the digital sector as a new model of economic growth responsive and resilient to changes in economic structure, development and international trade.
Chhin Ken, president of the Cambodia Digital Tech Association, said on Monday that the increasing number of internet subscribers shows awareness of using digital among Cambodian people to the new technology.
“The internet users are more because some Cambodian people own more than one SIM card,” said Ken.
“Cambodian people start to learn new technology and mobile internet surfing is easy for them to work on smartphones which before they mostly proceed on computers,” he said.
Ken said the internet speed in Cambodia is quite slow compared to neighbouring countries, while the internet speed is higher, which is difficult for production costs.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501033903/internet-users-surge-to-17-5m-as-govt-moves-to-digital-economy/