Mobile technology gives Cambodians a voice [Dial 1-800-4Democracy?]

April 23, 2010
By Chak Sopheap
Guest Commentary
UPI Asia Online

Niigata, Japan — Cambodia: The Rise of Citizen Media via Mobile Phone

Mobile phones have gained in popularity since 2000, even at the bottom of the economic pyramid, due to their affordability and indispensability. This is especially true in Cambodia, the first country in the world in which the number of mobile phone users surpassed the number using fixed landlines.

There are nearly 4 million mobile users, representing 26 percent of the population, according to the United Nations Development Program’s 2009 report, “Cambodia Country Competitiveness.”

Even though the population size and penetration rate of mobile phones in Cambodia are much lower than in neighboring Thailand and Vietnam, which have penetration rates over 80 percent, the Cambodian market seems to be booming, with nine service providers to cover 14 million people.

Thailand, with a population of 67 million, has only seven providers, while Vietnam has eight operators for its 87 million people, according to a report in Economics Today.

Cambodia’s excess of service providers may not be viable in the long term, but the competition has lowered prices and brought greater customer satisfaction.

Thanks to low prices, mobile phones have become indispensable in Cambodia, preferred over traditional communications including landlines and the postal service. With poor transportation infrastructure and a shortage of electricity coverage, mobile phones are the most convenient appliance, offering a range of services including radio, music, videos, and even Internet access.

Interestingly, mobile banking service was recently introduced to Cambodia. Now rural Cambodians can make low-cost payments and money transfers from their mobile phones.

Beyond that, mobile phones have had a great impact on mobilizations and collective actions, during the election campaign for example. Political parties use SMS text messaging, the cheapest and most effective way of widely spreading their message, for their political campaigns. Also civil organizations that monitor elections use SMS to communicate among themselves.

Probably due to its accessibility and vast penetration, text messaging in Cambodia was banned during the last day of the Commune Council Election in 2007 by the National Election Committee. Though opposition parties and human rights groups claimed the ban would hamper the right to freedom of expression, the committee claimed the ban was justified by the law prohibiting campaigning on election day or the day before, and it would prevent parties from using text messaging to mobilize rallies, thereby ensuring a quiet environment for voters.

Surprisingly, SMS text messaging partly contributed to the 2008 election victory of the ruling party, which had supported the earlier ban of text messaging. This is because a nationalistic movement coincided with the election campaign, due to a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over the Preah Vihear temple. This generated political approval of the government, which publicly denounced any invasion of Cambodian territory. Mobile phone text messages circulated saying, “Khmers love Khmer and should boycott anything Thai or with Thai writing on it.”

Another side effect of mobile technology is that it mobilizes people for human rights activism and social causes through SMS text messaging. When human rights activists were being arrested in Cambodia in late 2005 and early 2006, for example, human rights activists used SMS text messaging to mobilize public support to demand the release of those arrested and freedom of expression.

In other Asian countries SMS text messaging has become an effective means of disseminating information and mobilizing people. The spread of information about the 2007 Saffron Revolution in Burma was possible thanks to mobile technology; it led to a global mobilization to free Burma from human rights abuses.

During that time, a group of Cambodians wearing red shirts gathered to protest in front of the Burmese Embassy in Phnom Penh. Thanks to the widespread use of mobile text messaging and blogs, people around the world could join the same cause at the same time.

This trend, the rise of citizen media, is especially important in countries like Cambodia, where people who otherwise would have no voice are encouraged to disseminate information, organize events, and join social causes through mobile phone communication.
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(Chak Sopheap is a graduate student of peace studies at the International University of Japan. She runs a blog, www.sopheapfocus.com, in which she shares her impressions of both Japan and her homeland, Cambodia. She was previously advocacy officer of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.)

India takes bids for giant Internet leap [-Will Cambodia be next?]

Men walk past an advertisement for 3G telecom services in New Delhi on April 9, 2010

April 13, 2010
By Harmeet Shah Singh

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- In the good old days, Indians would wait for years for a telephone line to be installed in their homes and workplaces.

Until the early 1990s, a phone was seen as a luxury.

But today, India's vast underclass is almost as well connected as the rich in what is hailed as a telecom revolution that has delivered mobile telephony to nearly 600 million people in just a little over a decade.

The nation is now preparing for another giant leap into the digital world as it auctions off its airwaves for third-generation (3G) services to enable super-fast multimedia streaming on wireless networks.

Industry leaders Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Telecom and six other companies began bidding last week for slots in 22 zones -- called circles -- of India's telecom market.

The auction, with a reserve price of $787 million, is being held online on a secure Web site, according to officials.

The process is expected to run for days or weeks. The government has not set a closing date for the auction.

The government wants to award the 3G frequency space later this year, said Satyendra Prakash, a spokesman for the communications ministry.

Also, there will be a follow-up auction of broadband wireless access that has attracted 11 bidders, telecommunications officials say.

Analysts forecast that 3G systems will boost India's internet penetration with technology allowing quick access, data transfer and entertainment on mobile handsets.

India's online market has not kept pace with the country's booming mobile-phone business despite the country's image as an IT powerhouse.

Raj Pal, an adviser at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, says the nation had barely 15.24 million internet users in December last year. Among them were 7.82 million broadband subscribers, he added.

Independent surveys suggest about 71 million Indians claimed to have logged on in 2009, still a tiny fraction of the country's population of 1.2 billion.

Analysts now foresee another revolution ahead as the current second-generation (2G) mobile services are replaced by a successor.

"3G is going to do to the Internet in India what 2G did to mobile telephony," said Kunal Bajaj, India director of British-based consultancy firm Analysys Mason.

More than 130 countries already are using the third-generation platform, he said.

India has announced a program aimed at linking up all its 250,000 village councils by 2012 in a bid to plug massive broadband divides between rural and urban communities as the country emerges as one of the world's few growth markets.

Indians often complain of poor connectivity and abrupt termination of mobile calls. Bajaj explains that is because of signal congestion on cell-phone towers.

Experts believe 3G technology, for now, will be used to improve existing services on strained networks.

"The initial focus is expected to be on improving quality of calls," says Bajaj. "It will shift to multimedia application over a period of time," he adds.

Cambodia Wants To Establish Greater Cooperation With Malaysian Media

By Mohd Hisham Abdul Rafar

PHNOM PENH, Dec 4 (Bernama) -- The Cambodian government, in an effort to develop its people, especially the Muslim community, hopes for greater cooperation between the Cambodian and Malaysian media to facilitate dissemination of information.

Its Deputy Labour and Vocational Training Minister, Othsman Hassan, said this included magazine and newspaper publication as well as radio broadcasts.

"We are hoping for assistance from the Malaysian media to teach us how to produce magazines and newspapers and also to disseminate information through the radio," he said during a courtesy call by a member of the Yayasan Salam Malaysia's board of trustees, Datuk Ahmad A. Talib, to his office.

"When our media people are well-trained, they will be able to disseminate information to all levels of the society and also to correct negative perceptions about Islam," he said, adding that he wanted the Cambodian people, especially the Muslim community, to have access to information.

Othsman, who is also Minister of Islamic Affairs, said currently, Cambodia only had one radio channel, which uses the Champa language, specially for the Muslim community and hoped to have another channel in the Cambodian language by next year.

"We don't want to close the Champa radio channel because we don't want the language to disappear, but we want to have another channel in the Cambodian language because not all of the Champa community understand it," he added.

Othsman, who is fluent in Malay, said Cambodia had a population of 13 million people, including 5,000 Muslims.

Ahmad spent about an hour with Othsman during which they also discussed introducing the use of solar system to generate electricity for houses in the interior areas, which currently use generators.

Meanwhile, Ahmad, in response to Cambodia's request for assistance from the Malaysia media, said he would relay the matter to the media organisations, including Bernama.

"It'll be good if we can have a journalist exchange programme between Malaysia and Cambodia to understand each other's world of journalism. They will be able to learn faster," he added.

Yayasan Salam Malaysia (Salam), a non governmental organisation, and the Kedah veteran Malaysian Association of Youth Clubs, comprising about 50 volunteers, are in Cambodia on a humanitarian mission.

Besides providing aid to poverty-stricken Cambodians, they also help in building schools and mosques.

Salam and Kedah veteran MAYC also brought along various prayer necessities for the Muslim community as well as used clothing and 60 cows to be slaughtered for the Aidiladha celebration.

The beef will be distributed to about 3,000 residents in three villages -- Tropengbeang, Tanaksawai and Praksandai -- in the Kratie province.