Traffic passes borey housing complexes in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district. Hong Menea
Prime Minister Hun Sen once again reminded all internet suppliers and developers of – typically gated – housing developments known locally as boreys that they must abide by the measures laid down by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. He instructed to ministry to stop granting exclusive rights to any one internet company.
While presiding over a May 24 graduation and building inauguration at the Royal University of Fine Arts, he noted that internet services appeared to be disrupted and issued a reminder of the importance of fair competition in the sector.
“In the past, many borey developers monopolised internet service provision within their projects. I have pointed out that these monopolies are not recognised by the government, because our telecommunications law does not allow it. Things have improved slightly, but I believe there are still some barriers,” he said.
The premier said he has observed that although most developers now allow all service providers access to their boreys, it is obvious that the results remain inadequate.
“We all work with businesspeople or civil servants who reside in a borey where internet access is unavailable. Even telephone and 4G reception is subpar in many of them. This needs to improve,” he said.
He also advised internet providers to improve the quality of their service and the speed of their connections.
“I’d like to remind the owners of internet companies in all boreys to take advantage of the measures that the telecoms ministry has put in place, and install as many antennas as possible,” he said.
Liv Sophanarith, undersecretary of state at the telecoms ministry, said there are eight working groups coordinating with borey developers, as well as mobile phone and internet providers.
“We have supervised the installation of several telephone antennas, but it is sometimes dependant on the design of a borey,” he said.
“Some of the developers’ plans do not allow space for antennas. When construction is complete, the quality of service is poor. Our teams are working on determining suitable locations to overcome these issues,” he explained.
He added that antennas had been successfully installed in many of the boreys with poor reception, and that services had improved as a result.
“There are also a number of antenna which have been installed by mobile operators, but not yet been activated by the network owners. This is another issue we are resolving,” he continued.
He called on borey developers, mobile service providers and the public to cooperate with the ministry as it seeks to find solutions to the current problems.
