Tariffs May Prompt Thaicom Move

Steep price cuts by mobile operator Hello may prompt Thaicom to sell its majority stake in Mfone, according to investment firm Cambodia Capital. Cambodia Capital claims Hello’s drop in the tariffs it charges customers this year has heavily impacted Mfone’s operations, as well as those of other smaller telecoms in the Kingdom…Cambodia Capital said that while the firm did not expect to see the effects of Hello’s price cuts so quickly, the industry – and Mfone, in particular – was already feeling pressure as a result of those cuts…Hello in the first half of 2011 introduced tariff plans charging a flat flee for unlimited monthly calls, which drew criticism from domestic rivals, who claimed they violated a Ministry of Post and Telecommunications prakas regarding minimum pricing per minute…​ Regardless, Hello CEO Simon Perkins this week downplayed the effect his price cuts were having on the industry.  He said an overcrowded sector and aggressive pricing regimes over the past two years had finally started to take their toll on some Cambodian mobile operators.

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