The slickest wrap in the phone business
By ANITA ANANDARAJAH
The New Straits Times (Malaysia)
23 May, 2006
Hand phones are priced way above the average wage-earner’s income in Cambodia but the practice of sealing hand phones with plastic to preserve their resale value is giving consumers bargaining mileage. ANITA ANANDARAJAH writes. IN a country where civil servants and garment factory workers earn an average of US$40 (RM145) a month, the latest mobile phones are, surprisingly, all the rage.
Every other lamp post along the Monivong Boulevard in Phnom Penh is draped with banners advertising Nokia phones. In late April, phone fanatics were looking forward to the N91 which was expected to hit shops within days. Retailers quoted the price at US$905 (RM3,258) — 22 times the monthly pay packet.
Saler Toulors, 26, takes home a princely sum of US$70 each month from his job as a waiter at the Holiday Villa Pnom Penh. He bought a secondhand Nokia 6610 last month for US$80.
How he spends his money is dictated by the needs of his family. Saler is one of seven siblings. His father is a moto taxi driver. They live in a one-storey wooden house — on their own property — which Saler financed with the US$4,000 he had scrimped from a four-year stint in the hotel industry in Malaysia.
In a good month, he is able to save US$20. It took him a year to save up US$380 which he promptly used to buy a 100cc Honda motorcycle from Korea to make the 10km journey to work.
Petrol costs 3800 riels or about US$1 for a litre of petrol. Saler’s commuting consumes an average of US$25 monthly.
It costs eight cents a minute to make a local phone call.
With these costs hanging over his slim shoulders, it is a wonder how Saler and others like him manage to own fancy phones.
“Cambodians don’t care much about food. Food very cheap, only 1,500 riel for rice with meat. We don’t care about health,” said one service-industry source.
Cambodian Ministry of Tourism principal advisor K.B. Thuraisingam explained that mobile phones were a necessity as the cost of laying cables for land lines is very high. Land lines were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime and most have yet to be replaced.
“It costs US$250 to lay the cables so only a few businesses have done so for fax lines. Mobile phones are relatively cheaper because of the thriving secondhand mobile phone trade. It only costs US$10 for a SIM card,” he said.
Since trading up is the way to a newer phone, keeping the old one in pristine condition would ensure a fetching price. This has sparked off a hole-in-the-wall business of cling-wrapping mobile phones.
At the corner of Street 170 and Street 107 is one such operation. Taking up much of the five-foot way are two workers sitting by a low makeshift table industriously sealing phones in small sheets of clear sticky paper which they deftly pat down with their nimble fingers.
The exposed disposable blade of a razor is used to cut out holes where the battery charger should be and so the battery cover can be slid off. A once-over with the flame of a cigarette lighter completes this deceptively simple task by sealing the plastic and removing air bubbles.
At a glance the phone looks brand new. You can’t tell there is a plastic layer, which looks more like a veneer, around the phone even under close inspection. The plastic cases that were once popular here are tacky compared to this.
The cost of this born-again look? Three thousand riel or about RM3. More complicated phones with swivelling or sliding parts cost just a fraction more to seal. And it only takes 10 minutes or so. When the time comes to trade up, the phone will be scratch-free and sweat-free.
The deal doesn’t end there. This enterprising lot has taken to laminating cameras, laptops and even motorbikes! The latter makes sense as dust is everywhere, especially when riding on dirt roads on the outskirts of the city. The cost of this veneer on a bike is US$5.
Altogether there were three workers, with the third attending to the motorbikes. He used the same tools but was armed with a hairdryer to cover more ground.
Expatriate Ana Zhang who is based in Phnom Penh, noticed that the trade has been around since she arrived in Phnom Penh fours years ago. Zhang is somewhat a regular there as she has been around twice in recent months to have her phones done and has also introduced friends. She pointed out that black screen mobile phones were obsolete. She carries a two-month-old model but is already eyeing the N91.
The seedy side of the highly acceptable secondhand trade in mobile phones is the reported increase in thefts in recent months. “Don’t talk on your phone when you’re walking on the street or riding the moto,” came the advice from a hotel manager.
Every other lamp post along the Monivong Boulevard in Phnom Penh is draped with banners advertising Nokia phones. In late April, phone fanatics were looking forward to the N91 which was expected to hit shops within days. Retailers quoted the price at US$905 (RM3,258) — 22 times the monthly pay packet.
Saler Toulors, 26, takes home a princely sum of US$70 each month from his job as a waiter at the Holiday Villa Pnom Penh. He bought a secondhand Nokia 6610 last month for US$80.
How he spends his money is dictated by the needs of his family. Saler is one of seven siblings. His father is a moto taxi driver. They live in a one-storey wooden house — on their own property — which Saler financed with the US$4,000 he had scrimped from a four-year stint in the hotel industry in Malaysia.
In a good month, he is able to save US$20. It took him a year to save up US$380 which he promptly used to buy a 100cc Honda motorcycle from Korea to make the 10km journey to work.
Petrol costs 3800 riels or about US$1 for a litre of petrol. Saler’s commuting consumes an average of US$25 monthly.
It costs eight cents a minute to make a local phone call.
With these costs hanging over his slim shoulders, it is a wonder how Saler and others like him manage to own fancy phones.
“Cambodians don’t care much about food. Food very cheap, only 1,500 riel for rice with meat. We don’t care about health,” said one service-industry source.
Cambodian Ministry of Tourism principal advisor K.B. Thuraisingam explained that mobile phones were a necessity as the cost of laying cables for land lines is very high. Land lines were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime and most have yet to be replaced.
“It costs US$250 to lay the cables so only a few businesses have done so for fax lines. Mobile phones are relatively cheaper because of the thriving secondhand mobile phone trade. It only costs US$10 for a SIM card,” he said.
Since trading up is the way to a newer phone, keeping the old one in pristine condition would ensure a fetching price. This has sparked off a hole-in-the-wall business of cling-wrapping mobile phones.
At the corner of Street 170 and Street 107 is one such operation. Taking up much of the five-foot way are two workers sitting by a low makeshift table industriously sealing phones in small sheets of clear sticky paper which they deftly pat down with their nimble fingers.
The exposed disposable blade of a razor is used to cut out holes where the battery charger should be and so the battery cover can be slid off. A once-over with the flame of a cigarette lighter completes this deceptively simple task by sealing the plastic and removing air bubbles.
At a glance the phone looks brand new. You can’t tell there is a plastic layer, which looks more like a veneer, around the phone even under close inspection. The plastic cases that were once popular here are tacky compared to this.
The cost of this born-again look? Three thousand riel or about RM3. More complicated phones with swivelling or sliding parts cost just a fraction more to seal. And it only takes 10 minutes or so. When the time comes to trade up, the phone will be scratch-free and sweat-free.
The deal doesn’t end there. This enterprising lot has taken to laminating cameras, laptops and even motorbikes! The latter makes sense as dust is everywhere, especially when riding on dirt roads on the outskirts of the city. The cost of this veneer on a bike is US$5.
Altogether there were three workers, with the third attending to the motorbikes. He used the same tools but was armed with a hairdryer to cover more ground.
Expatriate Ana Zhang who is based in Phnom Penh, noticed that the trade has been around since she arrived in Phnom Penh fours years ago. Zhang is somewhat a regular there as she has been around twice in recent months to have her phones done and has also introduced friends. She pointed out that black screen mobile phones were obsolete. She carries a two-month-old model but is already eyeing the N91.
The seedy side of the highly acceptable secondhand trade in mobile phones is the reported increase in thefts in recent months. “Don’t talk on your phone when you’re walking on the street or riding the moto,” came the advice from a hotel manager.
3 comments:
Upraising may be yes1 Civil war is not going to be happen again soon until China and American are ready!
"Until China and America are ready" right on the money. A matter WHEN.
Mean time fight the Viet Name!!!!!
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