News
Telecom Firms Say Mobitel Owes $1.5M in Connection Fees
Cambodia’s largest mobile phone company CamGSM Co. Ltd., which operates under the MobiTel brand name, has been accused by three other firms in the market of refusing to pay more than $1.5 million owed to them in interconnection fees. In a letter to Telecommunications Minister So Khun dated ...
Rail Operator Restarts Train Services to Kampot
Toll Royal Railways (TRR), the current operator of Cambodia’s dilapidated rail network, restarted freight services to Kampot province yesterday, four months after it suspended its work. TRR’s resumption comes on the heals of a rival proposal to manage the train network by a consortium that includes one ...
Bank Would Back Firm to Take Over Rail Project
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has so far contributed $84 million toward the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network, said yesterday it would support a deal to drop the current railway operator if it means the new concessionaire would foot the $60 to $100 million needed ...
Russian-Cambodian satellite venture launched
A new Russian-Cambodian digital satellite television service plans to have 400,000 subscribers in the next two years with 60 channels in Khmer, English, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese and other languages. The venture between Russia’s General Satellite and Cambodia’s Royal Group was soft-launched last night at Sofitel, with ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012072557590/Business/onetv-satellite-venture-launched.html
Cambodia launches first 24-hour news station
The Cambodian Broadcasting Service launched the Kingdom’s first 24-hour news channel, Cambodian News Channel, to great fanfare last night at its new studios. During the launch, Kith Meng, chairman of both Royal Group and the new channel, said this news channel would further the development of ...
Toll Royal to Restart Rail Services Next Month
Less than four months after suspending work on Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network, Toll Royal Railways (TRR), the network’s operator, has informed the government that it will recommence transporting construction materials needed to build the southern line on Aug. 1, company officials said yesterday. The decision to ...
KFC in Cambodia Makes Losses in First Quarter
The Malaysian company that operates the KFC fast food restaurants in Cambodia has announced the venture made losses of more than a quarter of a million dollars in the first three months of this year. In its first-quarter report to the Malaysian stock exchange, QSR Brands ...
Construction Woes Plague Railway Project
The rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network has encountered delays due to poor construction work and inappropriate surveying methods when making plans to lay down tracks, according to a draft review of the ongoing $140 million project conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ...
Police Say Hun To News Story Untrue
The Interior Ministry yesterday defended Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew, Hun To, following explosive allegations by an Australian newspaper, The Age, which alleged that Australian police had suspected Mr. To of involvement in a drug smuggling and money laundering syndicate. An official from the Cambodian conglomerate ...
Drugs: our man in Cambodia
The inquiry that targeted Hun To, dubbed Operation Illipango, investigated the shipment of heroin into Australia from Cambodia in loads of timber. Hun To, a nephew of Prime Minister Hun Sen, is a powerful and feared figure in Cambodia. He was once considered a close business ...
http://www.theage.com.au/national/investigations/drugs-our-man-in-cambodia-20120325-1vsiz.html
ADB Won’t Pay to Finish Rail Project
Having already spent millions of dollars, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will not foot the additional $70 to $90 million in funds still needed to complete more than half of Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project, an official from the ADB said yesterday. Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture ...
Toll trains said to stop March 31
Toll Group has informed the Cambodian government that it will suspend all railway operations and lay off half of its Cambodian staff at the end of the month, according to a source familiar with the situation. The Australian logistics firm, which in partnership with Royal Group ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032055123/Business/toll-trains-said-to-stop-march-31.html
Toll Yet to Issue Statement On Railway Project Status
Several days after a report that Australian transportation company Toll Holdings would abandon its stake in a joint venture to operate Cambodia’s railway system, the company remained silent Friday on its future plans here. “Let’s wait for the truth rather than make assumptions,” he added. ...
Toll Group Mum on Possible Rail Project Exit
Australian transportation solutions provider Toll Holdings remained silent yesterday on whether it would be pulling out of its 30-year contract to operate Cambodia’s railway system. In a report published on Tuesday, the Sydney Morning Herald cited “reliable sources in Cambodia” as saying that the company would ...
Royal Group Denies Toll’s Exit From Local Railway Project
Royal Group chairman Kith Meng yesterday denied reports that Australian company Toll Holdings would be pulling out of a $140 million joint venture project to rehabilitate Cambodia’s railway system. Toll Holdings, in a joint venture with Royal Group, signed a 30-year contract with the government in ...
Mobile cash gaining traction
Digital cash services in Cambodia showed marked increases in users and cash flow in 2011, and still more growth is expected this year as operators launch new services and partnerships to capture a large but still-untapped rural market. The services, in which customers transfer money via ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030654867/Business/mobile-cash-gaining-traction.html
$6bn in projects approved in 2011
Investment approved between January and October surpassed those last year by US$160 million, according to a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia. The 126 local and foreign investment projects through October, worth about $6 billion, overshadowed the $5.8 billion in the whole of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121353317/Business/6bn-in-projects-approved-in-2011.html
Royal Group linked to new $2.2bn firm
A fertiliser company that has been approved to do billions of dollars’ worth of business in Cambodia, and is presumed to be based in the United Kingdom, is in fact affiliated with domestic conglomerate Royal Group, an insider has confirmed. Nitrogen Chemicals and Fertiliser (Cambodia) Ltd ...
CamGSM deal nixed by Telkom
A TelekomunikasiI Indonesia official said yesterday the company had cancelled plans to acquire a majority stake in Cambodian mobile operator CamGSM, just a month after officials at CamGSM parent Royal Group claimed a deal was imminent. Telkom finance director Sudiro Asno made the statement in Jakarta, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100651980/Business/camgsm-deal-nixed-by-telkom.html
Deals With China Inked
Cambodia agreed to acquire Chinese-made Z-9 helicopters for US$195 million in one of 26 memorandums of understanding agreed by the two countries on Saturday. Cooperation was pledged in sectors such as energy, mining, agriculture and road construction, as well as defense spending and aid. The ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011082251177/Business/deals-with-china-inked.html
Cambodia and China Ink Aid, Trade Deals
Prime Minister Hun Sen and a visiting top Chinese official on Saturday presided over the signing of 29 letters and memoranda covering a broad range of business and military deals, including a $195.5 million loan for Cambodia to purchase Chinese-made military helicopters. A summary of ...
More NGOs Scrutinised
International NGO Bridges Across Borders and umbrella group NGO Forum met yesterday morning with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who accused both of making “false” and “unfair” claims to the Asian Development Bank about the death of two children relocated by a railway ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011081951151/National-news/more-ngos-scrutinised.html
Kith Meng re-elected
PROMINENT businessman Kith Meng was re-elected unopposed yesterday as president of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. Kith Meng, the only contender who declared his candidacy for the three-year mandate, received support from all 11 candidates eligible to stand. Kith Meng, who is also chairman and chief ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080950932/Business/kith-meng-re-elected.html
President of Chamber of Commerce Is Re-Elected
The Cambodia Chamber of Commerce re-elected Royal Group chairman Kith Meng for his second three-year term as president yesterday. The presidents of 11 provincial chambers of commerce voted for Mr Meng, who is also president of the Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce. ...