Cambodia sets up tools to tackle poor cellular services at gated communities

Telecommunications minister Chea Vandeth meets residents at a gated community in Phnom Penh to discuss ways to improve the quality of mobile and internet services on Dec 25, 2021. - MPT

PHNOM PENH (The Phnom Penh Post/Asia News Network): The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has been installing a suite of tools and applications to measure the quality of cellular service in the capital, especially in gated communities known locally as Borey, minister Chea Vandeth confirmed.

Vandeth was speaking at a meeting with residents of the Borey Peng Huoth Boeung Snor gated community in Chbar Ampov district’s Niroth commune in the presence of cellular and internet service providers on Dec 25.

The meeting was also attended by representatives from other relevant industry sectors and from the ministry’s municipal working groups focused on improving telecommunications service quality.

Vandeth said challenges related to mobile service quality had a detrimental impact on work productivity, business operations, students’ ability to study and just about everything else.

“Problems with service quality have been with us for years, especially now with the increase in housing density and population,” he said.

He said the tools can measure the quality of service in a given area and that the ministry would establish a working group to efficiently solve each of the specific problems encountered in Borey Peng Huoth directly and in cooperation with Borey developers and telecom operators.

He added that the group would also construct additional cell towers and that the three mobile operators would make joint use of them.

“I promise to return to the same location in the next three months to check the quality of all internet and mobile services, and if there is no improvement in the quality of these services, the ministry will take legal action,” he said.

Sotheara, a 35-year-old resident of Borey Peng Huoth Boeung Snor who has been living there since 2018, said he now uses two mobile service providers – Cellcard and Smart – and switches between the two as needed, but he is still encountering service interruptions.

“Cellular and mobile internet services in this area used to work pretty well, but later became disrupted and stopped working after more people moved into the area,” he said.

He added that due to the poor telephone service, some homeowners were using cellular signal and reception boosting equipment, making it even more difficult for those who did not have that capability.

He also said the location where he lives has an internet company with a monopoly on internet service provision and they are more expensive in comparison to other internet companies who have to compete with each other for customers.

However, he said he was happy to hear that they are in the process of installing additional cell towers and strengthening the mobile service in the Borey, though he was sceptical that the upgrades would address the problem comprehensively.

Khem Rin, a resident of Borey Piphup Thmey gated community in the capital’s Dangkor district, also expressed similar frustrations regarding mobile service in his neighbourhood.

“All of the cellular service providers have poor quality service out here. Sometimes there is no phone service at all and other times the internet is useless too. People who can afford it use WiFi with a broadband connection, but not me.

“What made things even worse was that during the outbreak of Covid-19, my company required me to work from home and I actually had to go work at a cafe near my house in the Borey to use their WiFi,” he said.

Ministry undersecretary of state Liv Sophanarith told The Post that the causes of the poor service quality in the Boreys were due to a number of factors, depending on the specific location.

“Some Boreys give exclusive rights to a single internet company to provide services for the residents, so the people living there can’t choose a service provider for themselves.

“Also some mobile phone companies cannot set up antenna towers within Boreys due to restrictions or lack of cooperation from the developers, so they just install them nearby and then the mobile services are of poor quality,” he said.

However, in order to solve these problems for the increasing number of people living in the Boreys, he said the ministry’s working groups will begin measuring the quality of service in each Borey in Phnom Penh in stages in order to recommend and implement the necessary infrastructure improvements that will raise the quality of telecommunication services in those areas.