Advancing Cambodia into a 5G world: Cellcard

The Silicon Review

Cellcard is Cambodia’s longest-serving mobile telecommunications company with more than 20 years of operation and a customer base in excess of three million. The firm offers a full and comprehensive range of services covering: voice, data plans, tourist and roaming packages and a full range of enterprise and business solutions. Cellcard has led the Cambodian market through 2G, 3G, and 4G offering the widest and most affordable mobile data offers tied with the biggest and most reliable network. The company is now leading the introduction of digital services around the introduction of 5G with a range of new and exciting products and services in key locations in Q4, 2019. As one of Cambodia’s top three brands, Cellcard has built its reputation on trust and reliability. That is why it is known as the steadfast operator with Cambodian family values at its core.

Recent Success of the Firm

Cellcard has built Cambodia’s fastest and most reliable 4G data network and has attracted local, regional and global recognition and accolades as a result. Despite being late to launch 4G, Cellcard has very quickly surpassed its two main competitors in terms of network reliability, quality, coverage and speed. This is evident in the awards that have been achieved in a very short space of time including predominantly the Ookla Speed test Awards for Cambodia for four consecutive test periods, as well as being awarded multiple categories in the Open Signal awards in Cambodia for the past three years in a row.

Factors that Make the Company Special

Cellcard has been in operation for 21 years, it was the late entrant to 4G commencing roll-out in January 2017, reaching 3000 sites and more than 80% nation-wide coverage in just 18 months. But now it has become the leader in terms of network quality, reliability, coverage and speed and is now driving the market as it enters the 4th industrial revolution. To time with the introduction of its data network Cellcard launched two major data offers, Osja Exchange and Big Love, which were the catalyst for making mobile data affordability the vehicle to accelerating mobile data penetration and usage.

The challenging aspect of being bold enough to lead the market on these types of data offers is the slow reaction of the market itself in Cambodia. But with continued investment in marketing, the company is bringing true data connectivity to all of Cambodia, bridging the digital divide and allowing Cambodians full access to best-in-class data services.

Future Projects and Plans

Cellcard leads the market in terms of innovation and that is why it is preparing a huge number of new innovative products and services ready to complement its digital 5G platform launch. New and exciting AR/VR platforms are ready; it will be the first to launch full Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality/VR education modules, allowing school children to access the latest digital technology even in the most remote areas to assist with education and learning. The company will introduce remote health monitoring programs for rural areas further helping people to live healthier lives and give them affordable health care and monitoring. Also enhanced mobile broadband will be launched on its 5G platform allowing people in even the remote areas access to affordable mobile broadband, again bridging the digital divide. Water monitoring and flood prevention sensors will be introduced to vulnerable areas to give early warning of rising water levels which can have a disastrous effect on people’s livelihoods. An exciting range of entertainment services too will be launched. Cambodia’s first digital TV platform will be introduced in the 3rd Quarter of 2019, in conjunction with a range of tailored content services i.e. gaming and music platforms. Many of these new services will feature speeds of up to 1.5GBPS as well as 5G technology for far greater bandwidth and speed with zero latency. Cellcard is collaborating closely with the Cambodian government and large enterprise customers to deploy technologies that will rely on 5G.

Cellcard very much sees itself as leading the Digitalization process of Cambodia and working across all segments including Consumer, Enterprise and Government to build the bridge to 5G. The company is one of the first big Cambodian corporates to drive a mindset of the culture of innovation in its workforce and value cross-functional collaboration across departments. The firm will continue to lead the country into the era of digitization, allowing people to communicate to whomever, whenever and wherever they are. It will continue to introduce a range of digital services to help its customers with affordable prices, creating real and tangible benefits for its customers to build their businesses. The firm further plans on creating new revenue streams from digital services and partnerships that will bring excitement, rich content, as well as safety and security for its customers.

Taking the Company to the Next Level

Ian Watson | CEO

Ian joined the company in 2012 as the CEO. He is recognized within the telecommunications community as one of the leading figures in relation to 5G and digital transformation and has built a 30-year career in the industry across global markets.

His most recent industry recognition was the 5G Asia People’s Choice Award for Operator CXO of the Year. He has also gained significant exposure in the past year as the driving force behind one of the most aggressive 4G roll-outs in the SE Asian region, achieving for three years running both the Ookla and Open signal Awards. His focus now is firmly set on driving the digitalisation of Cambodia with early adoption of pre5G and the introduction of 5G across the key segments of Consumer, Government and Corporate.

In addition to his role as CEO of Cellcard (CamGSM) he also holds a number of key Executive positions within the Royal Group of Companies, the largest conglomerate in the Kingdom of Cambodia, reporting directly to the Chairman.

He is Group Chief Executive for the cluster of companies within the communications and Technology Division with responsibility for the business’s units covering mobile network operations, mobile commerce, broadcasting, broadband and internet services and satellite cable network.