Giant Telstra turns over IDD service to Cambodia

Giant Telstra turns over IDD service to Cambodia

PHNOM PENH (DPA): Australian communications giant Telstra
handed over its highly profitable monopoly on international
telephone service in Cambodia after its 10-year contract ended
Monday.

Telstra Cambodia earned more than 100 million dollars through
its exclusive contract over the 10 years, Minister of Posts and
Telecommunications So Khun told Monday's ceremony.

The government's revenue-sharing deal from the monopoly earned
it 200 million dollars over the same period, he said.

Monday's hand-over raised the possibility of competition among
international direct dial (IDD) service for the first time, but
left the cash-strapped government with the huge task of
developing the country's still-scant telecommunications sector.

"This is an important turning point for telecommunications
reform," Prime Minister Hun Sen said at a ceremony Monday.
Cambodia has lagged behind most of Asia in telecommunications
because its infrastructure was ravaged by decades of civil war
with Khmer Rouge guerrillas.

In 1990, the government granted Telstra exclusive IDD service
in exchange for its promise to invest more than 20 million
dollars in building a telecommunications infrastructure almost
from scratch.

The country still has only about 20,000 phone lines and the
vacuum has allowed mobile telephones to outrank fixed lines by
about five to one.

Swedish telecoms giant Millicom International is reportedly in
negotiations with the government for form a joint-venture to
operate IDD service in competition with the Ministry of Posts and
Telecommunications' own service, but officials would not confirm
details of any deal Monday.

Though it is losing its IDD service, Telstra will retain its
BigPond Internet gateway service in Cambodia.