Chinese-owned giant telecom and technology company Huawei has pledged to support Cambodia’s digital development and bring new technology, according to its Cambodia’s country director.
Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies (Cambodia) Co Ltd Sovan Yao said in an interview with local media Fresh News the company will continue to cooperate with the government of Cambodia by bringing in the latest technology to support the people’s needs.
“Under the support from the Cambodia government, our business partners and customers, we have launched 5G trial successfully and we hope that we will bring this latest new technology to the people in rural and remote areas, especially for the poor children be able to access the internet,” he said.
Cambodia e-government policy was originally established by the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology, and Innovation in a bid to respond to emerging digital innovation and global technological trends.
As the COVID-19 crisis remains, the government has stated its commitment to making e-governance a priority to ensure services remain timely and available.
5G technology will become the most important factor in information communication technology (ICT) transformation and open collaboration across industries.
“We strongly support and join with the government to implement the white book policy and trade and what we are always doing is to provide support of digital infrastructures and share our technology with Cambodia,” Yao said.
During Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Beijing in 2019, the government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Huawei to build a 5G network in Cambodia.
In May this year, Huawei Technologies (Cambodia) Co Ltd signed an agreement with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to provide the country with the latest ICT equipment and a 5G technology training programme.
The Kingdom’s leading mobile operators such as Cellcard, Smart and Metfone have cooperated with Huawei for 5G technology and each has already launched a 5G trial.
Huawei has been accused of being Beijing’s back door by the US and some Western countries by banning its 5G technology, saying it can be used to spy. The accusation has been denied by the Chinese government.
However, Huawei is still showing a strong performance globally with a revenue increase more than 14 percent for the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, according to Yao. He said it is operating in 179 countries in the world and generated more $120 billion in revenue in 2019. “Honestly, there’s always pressure and, since we established in Cambodia 20 years ago, the pressure is bigger now, but with the support from the government, business partners and customers, we can overcome the challenges smoothly,” he said.
Yao added that compared with the previous year, the business in Cambodia is showing a positive trend because the company has recruited more local staff, especially young people.
According to data from the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC), about 16.1 million people in Cambodia had subscribed to the internet by 2019, up 20 percent compared with the year before.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
