Free Basics by Facebook Available in Cambodia

[Screenshot of FreeBasics in Khmer]

[Cambodia at A Glance] The total population in Cambodia was last recorded at 15.33 million people in 2014 reported by the World Bank. The internet subscriptions increased from 3.86 million in 2013 to over 6.2 million in 2015 ⁽¹⁾. The below chart illustrates the growth figures:

And the number of mobile phone subscribers had over 21 million (21,692,144 subscribers) at the 2nd quarter of 2015 ⁽²⁾ - the increasing leads Cambodia became the first country in the world with more mobile phones than fixed-line phones ⁽³⁾. The below chart illustrates the figures:

With the use of smartphones and internet home use surging, Khmer youth are increasingly using social media. The most used social platform is by no doubt Facebook with 1.2 million users in 2014 ⁽⁴⁾. The below graph which is illustrated by StatCounter Global Stats about Top 7 Social Media Sites in Cambodia from Jan 2014 to Oct 2015 (All platforms: Desktop, Mobile, Tablet, Console), Facebook is really the most popular social media in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

By seeing that, in a post yesterday (in Khmer languge), Smart Axiata in cooperation with Facebook want all Cambodians to explore the magic of Internet which provides you access to basic Internet resources, FREE OF CHARGE.

[Related: Smart Mobile - the First to Operate 4G LTE in Cambodia]

Free Basics empowers you to discover and access lots of information out of diverse topics:

• Study
• Business
• Health
• Entertainment 

If you are new to the world of Internet, THIS is for you! To use, simply download the “Free Basics by Facebook” Android App or go to www.freebasics.com from your phone, exclusively for Smart subscribers.

Smart ចង់អោយប្រជាជនកម្ពុជាទាំងអស់បានស្វែងយល់ពី­ភាពអស្ចារ្យរបស់អុិនធឺណិត ហេតុនេះហើយទើប Smart បានសហការជាមួយ Facebook ដើម្ប...
Posted by Smart Axiata on Thursday, October 8, 2015

Free Basics is a new project of Facebook company, which recently uses in the world, and Cambodia is the 22nd country where Facebook launched this project. The purpose of project with the collaboration of Smart is to connect people more than 1 million people have access to basic Internet resources for free.

 All users who are using the Smart company's services are able to use some basic level which are useful both Khmer and English including the website of Facebook, Dictionary.com, Wikipedia, Ask, Bing, Messenger. The service will run from today onwards ⁽⁵⁾.

References:

• (1)  Internet Subcribers, Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC)
• (2) Mobile Phone Subscribers, Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC)
• (3) We Are Social’s Guide to Social, Digital and Mobile in Cambodia (2nd Edition, Oct 2012)
• (4) The "Cambodia: Social Media Fact - Sheet, June 2014"by Media Matters
• (5) Free Basics by Facebook, Sabay News (Khmer)

Free Basics by Facebook Available in Cambodia

Smart Mobile - the First to Operate 4G LTE in Cambodia

Photo: Smart Mobile

While getting into a crowded telecom market in Cambodia, Smart Axiata Company Limited or so-called Smart Mobile recently became a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata) after it entered into a strategic merger with Hello Axiata Company Limited in 2012. It operates 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.75G mobile services, supporting the very latest in multimedia and mobile internet services as well as international roaming across more than 147 countries and its extensive nationwide network coverage is available in all 24 provinces in Cambodia, according to its company information. The technology is moving, so Smart cannot stop to offer the competitive promotions to the customers by various services - now it is starting to operate the first 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology in this Kingdom of Wonder, Cambodia.

Does Smart Mobile operate its 4G LTE nationwide?
No, currently it can offer only 6 locations in Phnom Penh city such as:
1. Smart Store Beung Trabek
2. Naga World Hotel and Casino
3. Sovanna Shopping Center
4. Ratana Plaza Shopping Mall
5. De Castle Toul Kork
6. Phnom Penh International Airport

This is a step-by-step improvement and also cost much money to expand the coverage. I think sooner it will be available nationwide.
You can find Smart 4G Zones on my map using Google Maps Engine:

What's different  between 3G and 4G?
Turning a bit to find out the difference between both technologies as the following:

	3G	4G
Data Throughput	Up to 3.1Mbps with an average speed range between 0.5 to 1.5 Mbps	Practically speaking, 2 to 12 Mbps (Telstra in Australia claims up to 40 Mbps) but potential estimated at a range of 100 to 300 Mbps.
Peak Upload Rate	5 Mbps	500 Mbps
Peak Download Rate	100 Mbps	1 Gbps
Switching Technique	packet switching	packet switching, message switching
Network Architecture	Wide Area Cell Based	Integration of wireless LAN and Wide area.
Services And Applications	CDMA 2000, UMTS, EDGE etc	Wimax2 and LTE-Advance
Forward error correction (FEC)	3G uses Turbo codes for error correction.	Concatenated codes are used for error corrections in 4G.
Frequency Band	1.8 – 2.5 GHz	2 – 8 GHz

Chart Credit: diffen.com

Try a watch through below video by iClassified for testing Internet speed on iPhone 5 using SpeedTest apps:


Which company is Smart's competitor in the technology, 4G?
Personally, I think there is only one company that presently got into Cambodia telecom market is Chinese mobile operator called Xinwei (Cambodia) Telecom Co. Ltd. with CooTel-branded. CooTel it has some strong points such as being the first mobile operator in network marketing, and various services (CooCall, CooHome, CooVoice, CooSurf, SimLess, CamTalk, CooMarts, CooBill), and especially the future expanding its network coverage signal to reach 90 percent of the Cambodian population.

So, you may know which one is the first operator that makes itself the 1st 4G telecom network ever built in Cambodia - it is CooTel (prefix number, 038)!. But there are two main points that they both differentiate are:
1. Smart offers 4G LTE (revolution of GSM technology), or be easy to think, it uses SIM card; when we need just buy SIM only.
2. CooTel offers SCDMA technology or it uses SIM-cardless (No SIM card) - similar to ExeCell-018 operates; when we need we have to buy its phone.
In short, CooTel selling both services and its own phones and if it becomes popular among Cambodian users so the market of CDMA phones will boom, am I right?.

After all above, I have some questions for you as a checklist before you decide to catch up with today-technology:
1. What is your decision to choose the technology for your daily Internet usage (3.75G, 4G or CDMA)?
2. How much are you able to spend on those (supported smart devices: mobile, tablet, modem)
3. Does it really fit to your needs (for study, research, fun, work etc.)?
4. Do all mobile operators in Cambodia offer you with good services as you expected?

Let's wait and try the new technology together!

Smart Mobile - the First to Operate 4G LTE in Cambodia

Hello Axiata to Buy Smart Mobile for Merge

Few year ago, Smart Mobile had merged with StarCell (prefix. 098) by using Smart Mobile's brand, and now omitted StarCell. Today I got news from my nephew late evening that Hello and Smart Mobile will be merged together, so I take my mobile to surf on press release of official website of Hello Axiata Company Limited ("Hello") announced the strategic merger of Hello and Latelz Company Limited ("Latelz"), which operates under the Smart Mobile brand name. And the merger will create the 2^nd largest mobile telecommunications company in Cambodia with 5 million subscribers; for this point I used to hear directly from Smart Mobile's HR manager through attending his training with Aplus School at CJCC this year that his company now stands in number 2 (Mobitel "Cellcard" is number 1) of all 9 mobile operators in Cambodia.
Hello Axiata Chief Executive Officer Simon Perkins said:

"The time was right for consolidation in the mobile telecommunications market in Cambodia. Currently there are nine players in the market and we believe through consolidations it will come down to three to five operators. The time is right for us to consolidate and we at Smart Mobile and Hello are proud to be leading the way in Cambodia. And the merger would make it possible for the combined entity to enjoy better economies of scale, while eliminating duplication of costs. It will also facilitate synergies and the sharing of best practices between Hello Axiata and Smart Mobile.

We are confident that the merger will put us on a stronger footing and it will allow us to grow from strength to strength,"

As for Latelz’s CEO Thomas Hundt said:

"The combined entity would be able to offer more innovative and affordable mobile voice and mobile data products and services to its five million customers. Smart Mobile brings to this deal an efficient operation, a highly competent work force, a strong brand presence and a sizeable asset base and spectrum. Hello, on the other hand, has to offer a loyal customer base and the strength and scale of the Axiata Group.

We are excited with the prospects this enlarged within-network community can offer our customers. This will include, amongst others, an enhanced level of customer service and one of the biggest mobile networks of Cambodia in terms of coverage and capacity. We will also have one of the most extensive sales and distribution channels in Cambodia. And we expect the merger to be finalised latest by the end of first quarter 2013. Until then, it will be business as usual at both Hello and Smart Mobile without disruptions to the services that our customers currently enjoy."

 From this official press news and Smart Mobile's website, I don't see any points which mention on how many percent of each company deal with. But I found an post from telecomasia.net stating that Hello Axiata plans to acquire and merge with Latelz Company in a $155 million deal and will reportedly own 90% of the converged company.

Anyway, If Hello buys Smart Mobile using Smart Mobile brand name so all Hello points will be re-designed to be as Smart Store. And I hope the two merges will offer the users/subscribers in Cambodia with various services (better Internet speed/coverage...) in cheaper prices (local or roaming service), better customer services for them.

Finally, I still like the marketing concept of new creative promotion TV spot of Smart Mobile such as "Smart Xchange"; I can say this spot is new creative one for mobile ads on TVs in Cambodia, it's an updated spot based on today-tech, Cloud Computing. You can watch from this official TV spot in its Youtube:

Hello Axiata to Buy Smart Mobile for Merge