Communications policy and administration

The Ministry of Information last week warned media organizations not to publish or broadcast advertisements from gambling outlets unless they have permission from the government to do so, according to a ministry notice obtained Tuesday. “The ministry previously advised [media outlets] to stop all types ...

Cambodia’s telecom sector is outraged over a draft law handed down by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) on Wednesday, which details a government plan to assert control over the industry. In what is being labeled an “unprecedented, draconian” effort to nationalise the industry, the ...

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Federation was inaugurated here on Thursday with an aim to advance Cambodia to a digital age, officials said. Speaking at the launching ceremony, Kan Chanmeta, secretary of state of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, said the federation would be ...

The Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia (UYFC), led by Hun Many, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son, is claiming that one of its Facebook pages was hacked by international “hactivist” group Anonymous. ...

A newspaper editor and a suspected illegal logger have been arrested over the shooting of a senior forestry official in Mondolkiri province earlier this month, according to police. Pum Poeun, the 48-year-old editor-in-chief of Borei Angkor newspaper, was arrested in Phnom Penh on Sunday. Len Kamry, ...

Three reporters and a publisher were arrested in two separate cases of attempted extortion in Stung Treng and Kratie provinces on Sunday after stopping vehicles suspected of carrying illegally logged timber, according to local authorities. Mom Mon, 54, and Kim Noeun, 28, reporters for the Sangkum Khmer and ...

The Interior Ministry’s internal security department arrested 78 Chinese nationals Thursday for their alleged involvement in a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) extortion scam in coordinated raids in Phnom Penh and two provinces. The men and women were arrested in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and ...

Authority has asked all mobile network operators in Cambodia to stop delivering free Sim Cards without getting a copy of identification card from their clients, warning that they would face legal action if they disobey the order. The warning was made during a meeting on Thursday ...

Bankrupt telecommunications company Mfone yesterday handed out the final instalments of unpaid wages to former employees. More than 1,000 former Mfone staffers received the remaining 30 per cent of their unpaid wages after the telecommunications firm filed for bankruptcy in February 2013. Since then, workers have ...

Prominent tycoon and ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat has now set his sights on the media landscape. Phat, the head of LYP Group, on Friday confirmed plans that he is seeking to set up a television station. The entry of an LYP channel, proposed as part ...

A journalist who filed a complaint with the Pursat Provincial Court alleging that a soldier threatened to kill him over an illegal logging report withdrew his complaint after the soldier was internally disciplined, court officials and military police said Monday. Sak Rom, a reporter with Kapit ...

The Ministry of Interior’s National Police plans to establish its own Khmer-language newspaper to provide the public, for a fee, with accurate information on security and crime in Cambodia and to promote awareness about traffic laws and the dangers of drugs, the National Police spokesman ...

A draft law on e-commerce that would regulate electronic trade in Cambodia will arrive at the Council of Ministers in August, following revision by two other state institutions, officials at the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday. Orm Dararith, director of the Ministry of Commerce’s legal department, ...

A 17-year-old high school student was charged Wednesday after he confessed to hacking a government website and creating a Facebook page on which he encouraged people to attack government websites as well as the websites of pro-government groups, officials confirmed, though the exact charges are ...

In three years’ time, Cambodia will have legislation clearly outlining what government information is available to the general public, according to a recently signed memorandum of understanding. Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith and Anne Lemaistre, UNESCO’s representative to Cambodia, signed the memorandum on Friday. The MoU ...

Kem Gunawadh was reinstated as director-general of state broadcaster TVK on Wednesday, less than two weeks after his highly publicized resignation for failing to live broadcast the annual Royal Plowing Ceremony, according to a statement signed by Information Minister Khieu Kanharith. Acting Director-General Pang Nath denied ...

Cambodian police detained 10 Chinese nationals, including three females, who were allegedly involved in a telecom scam, a local military police chief said. Heng Bunty, chief of Preah Sihanouk provincial military police, said the police raided two rented houses in the southern province on Wednesday and ...

The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) last week warned mobile operator Smart that it could face legal action for attempting to lure customers away from rival operator qb, and ordered Smart to resolve the issue “immediately,” according to a letter from TRC to Smart’s CEO ...

The single-party National Assembly sat for the third day of its third plenary session Thursday, with a senior ruling party lawmaker calling on Information Minister Khieu Kanharith to examine whether journalists who call the Assembly “single party” can be punished under law. Sixty-four of the 68 ...

Media watchdogs on Wednesday expressed concern that the resignation on Saturday of Kem Gunawadh, long-serving director-general of state broadcaster TVK, was due to the station’s airing of an opposition campaign spot showing violent government protest repressions. In a statement, the Cambodian Center for Independent Media and ...

Transparency International Cambodia (T.I.) will next week launch an app for smartphones that allows users to log instances of bribery with the advocacy group. Bribespot, the work of a team of German computer programmers, will encourage users to share details of corrupt activity in real time, ...

Kem Gunawadh, the long-serving director-general of TVK who helped set up the state broadcaster in 1983, resigned abruptly on Saturday in what his successor said was a reaction to government criticism over his decision not to broadcast live that morning’s annual Royal Plowing Ceremony. The resignation ...

Thmey Thmey online news website on Wednesday launched a Japanese-language version of the site to help illuminate the world of Cambodian politics and business for Japanese residents here, as well as those considering relocating or investing in the country. The news site, which was set up ...

TV news viewers in Cambodia are fed a steady diet of praise for the government and top officials. Whether they’re giving speeches that go on for hours, cutting a ribbon at a new development project, or shaking hands with foreign dignitaries, government leaders are presented ...