Price rules pulled due to election
The government in May held back on implementing widely unpopular rules that would have raised the price of mobile phone calls so as to not upset consumers – and potential voters – just months ahead of the national election, according to Cambodia’s independent telecommunications regulator.
“Before the election this happened, but the government and the minister of telecoms said you have to delay this because it’s just before the election. You cannot put this floor price and regulation to the operator,” Lay Mariveau, first member of the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC), said yesterday.
The floor price was introduced in 2009 to prevent the demise of telco operators in what is considered an oversaturated market. It sets a minimum charge of 4.5 cents per minute for calls made within a network and 5.95 cents per minute for calls made between different networks. But it was often flouted by operators, who charged much lower and sometimes zero rates through enticing promotions. …
In retrospect, it’s easy to see why such a move made sense. According to government statistics, there were 19 million mobile phone subscribers in 2012 (with a population of close to 14.6 million, many users have more than one mobile phone). Though the numbers aren’t broken down by age, many of those subscribers were likely eligible to vote. …
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/price-rules-pulled-due-election
