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| .kh Cambodia |
| Norbert Klein |
Overview The 1991 Paris Peace Accords initiated the present socio-political organisation of Cambodia after more then 20 years of civil war and internationally imposed isolation. The subsequent 18 months under the United Nations Transitional Authority for Cambodia were not sufficient to bring to an end the military conflict in the country. However, national elections in 1993, which brought the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Cambodia, marked also the beginning of multifaceted international efforts -- by multilateral agencies, governments and NGOs -- to reconstitute the economic fabric of the country. As far as IT is concerned, a 2001 ITU study on Cambodia provides the general picture: "It has the dubious distinction of having the lowest Internet penetration in South East Asia as well as the highest prices." Telecommunications of all kinds have been scarce until recent years. In 1990, Telstra of Australia provided the first 300, then 600, then 1,200 telephone lines via satellite, an alternative to the manually switched international connections to the InterSputnik system and an alternative to the expensive INMARSAT system of the government, which had been made available also for fax transmissions by NGOs. However, telephone access remained limited as not even all sectors of the capital city had wired telephone lines available, and the lines that did exist were noisy and broke down frequently. Considering this background, the development of the national ICT infrastructure has been tremendous. The great leap became possible through wireless systems, first through the widely established non-mobile wireless Thai Shinawatra system, and then through the introduction of mobile phones. Since 1997, the number of wireless phones has outnumbered wired phones. In 2001, Cambodia had 31,000 wired phones and 250,000 mobile phones, a ratio of about 1:8 -- the "world’s highest mobile share". Technical availability and economic availability are, however, two quite different realities. With a monthly salary of around US$30 for high school teachers, ICTs stay for many outside of their financial possibilities. Though the website of one ISP shows the honour students of seven high schools in Phnom Penh, none of those schools have Internet access. Furthermore, the economic gap between the urban and the rural population is strongly reflected in the gap in telephone lines and Internet access. There is no local open source movement, though the issue is recognised at some levels. Linux network servers have been in use in Cambodia since 1996. The challenge "to avoid dependency on proprietary systems, instead promoting open systems and interoperability" was mentioned in the closing remark of Senior Minister Sok An at the IT Awareness Seminar convened by the National Information Technology Development Authority in September 2001. Periodic crackdowns on CD pirates -- vendors and factories -- have shown the public that piracy is an emerging problem, although the implications are not yet widely grasped. It is not only economic reasons and the preexisting communications infrastructure that have hampered the development of ICTs in Cambodia; the script of the national language -- Khmer -- has posed an additional impediment. A
visiting delegation from the Center for the International Cooperation for Computerization
of Japan remarked, back in 1999, that the major buyers of computers in the country
are foreign companies and NGOs. Although there are no official statistics on this,
it appears that the next biggest group of buyers is the Cambodian business sector,
government institutions and UN-related agencies. Internet
cafés are frequented not only by foreign tourists, but also by many Cambodian
students, male and female. As there are not many systems available that can handle
Khmer fonts, a certain level of knowledge in the English language is a prerequisite
for accessing the Internet. Two Cambodian youth and student organisations were
among the earliest users of e-mail systems in Cambodia in 1995. . . . . . the
complete text of this chapter is available for purchase and immediate download
as a PDF file, please click here for more information. |
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