Telecoms minister Chea Vandeth meets with residents of a ‘borey’ gated community in the capital, to gather feedback to improve the quality of mobile and internet services, in December. MPTC
The telecoms ministry is continuing its cooperation with owners of gated housing communities throughout Phnom Penh to set up telecommunication infrastructures and enhance internet operation and mobile services.
Ministry of Post and Telecommunications spokesman Liv Sophanarith told The Post on June 21 that the ministry developed teams to work in the gated communities, known locally as “borey”, where they have so far generally reported good cooperation from owners, although there had been complaints of service interruptions in the past.
Responding to those issues, he assured that the ministry is intent on ensuring smoother internet access and increasing its pace as more borey developments take off.
Relating some experience from the visits, Sophanarith said they noticed that a few house owners used booster devices to enhance the service.
“When people buy fake or substandard equipment, it may create resistance to other frequencies in the borey, affecting the internet or mobile service,” he explained.
In another instance, Sophanarith said, they noticed that the reason behind disruptive internet and mobile service was due to the geography, population density and a few other reasons.
“In some places, it was because of the lack of antenna towers while others were a result of poor infrastructure,” he said.
In addition to working with the borey, the ministry’s taskforce has also engaged with operators, mobile companies and internet firms to work together and improve the quality of internet services for users.
Cheng Nita, a resident of Borey Piphop Thmey Kuor Srov III about 9km southwest of Takhmao town northwest of the intersection of National Road 2 and Road 20, claimed that the internet and telephone service in her borey is “not very good”, and that she found difficulty having proper communication via mobile telephone.
By her own account, when she enters her house, coverage by network service providers disappears immediately.
“Usually when I use the internet through Cellcard at home, it can be used for social media, watching videos on YouTube, but now I see that the service is not good or not smooth, due to interruptions.
“Sometimes the service is weak and cannot connect. It makes it difficult to work from home when the service is down. I need the internet to do research and contact clients,” she said.
According to a ministry report, as of March 2022, internet subscriptions in Cambodia stood at 17,697,657, while mobile connections totalled 19,380,670. The Kingdom’s current population is over 17.17 million as of June 21, based on Worldometer’s elaboration of the latest UN data.
