Intense competition in Cambodia's mobile phone industry
By Jon Fernquest
Almost
all mobile phone users in Cambodia use prepaid service.Prepaid makes switching service providers and jumping from company to company much easier for mobile phone users.
When customers can switch brands on a whim this also makes the market very competitive.
Today's article looks at the Cambodian mobile phone market and a Thai joint venture with the Cambodian government that is competing in this market.
The article begins after the vocabulary below.
The photo on the right shows a colourful display of prepaid phone cards on the streets of Phnom Penh.
intense - done with
a lot of energy and effort
intense competition - when a group of companies are all trying very hard (with great energy and effort) to be more successful than each other (all trying to get limited customer money spent on their products)
prepaid - buying a card with a certain amount of mobile phone speaking time before you actually use it
postpaid - when the company sends a bill at the end of the month after the mobile phone service is used
service provider - a company that provides a service to customers (such as mobile phone or internet service)
brand switching - when customer stops buying one brand and buys another instead or the behaviour of often buying different products, not having brand loyalty (See Wikipedia on brand and brand loyalty)
whim - sudden feeling that you must do something, doing something without much thought
on a whim - do suddenly without much thought
joint venture - a business owned and operated by two or more companies
intense competition - when a group of companies are all trying very hard (with great energy and effort) to be more successful than each other (all trying to get limited customer money spent on their products)
prepaid - buying a card with a certain amount of mobile phone speaking time before you actually use it
postpaid - when the company sends a bill at the end of the month after the mobile phone service is used
service provider - a company that provides a service to customers (such as mobile phone or internet service)
brand switching - when customer stops buying one brand and buys another instead or the behaviour of often buying different products, not having brand loyalty (See Wikipedia on brand and brand loyalty)
whim - sudden feeling that you must do something, doing something without much thought
on a whim - do suddenly without much thought
joint venture - a business owned and operated by two or more companies
Economics
Thaicom's Mfone bounces back
Thai satellite operator's subsidiary is gaining ground in the highly competitive and crowded Cambodian market16/08/2010
Steve Finch
PHNOM PENH : After a difficult first quarter following losses of more than US$1 million, the CEO of the Thai-owned mobile operator Mfone says it is now ''on track'' as it returned to the No. 3 position in what has become among the most competitive mobile markets in the world.
A trend in Phnom Penh is to own as a many as six SIM cards, yet only about 1% of the Cambodian market is postpaid.
bounces back -
improve again after getting worse for a time
subsidiary - (of a business company) owned or controlled by another company บริษัทในเครือ
subsidiary - a company that is owned by a larger company บริษัทลูก
gaining ground - making advances (in a better position then it was before)
competitive - involving competition มีการแข่งขัน
first quarter - the first three months of the year (used for budgeting and reporting on financial performance within companies)
on track - project on schedule, going according to plan, achieving the goals it said it would achieve
mobile operators - companies that offer mobile phone service (for example: AIS, DTAC, Orange)
Mfone - a mobile phone joint venture between a Thai company and the Cambodian government (Read background on company)
trend - a new development in clothing, make-up, mobile phones, etc แนวโน้ม
SIM card - the tiny card in the back of a mobile phone that provides the phone with a telephone number (others can call)
subsidiary - (of a business company) owned or controlled by another company บริษัทในเครือ
subsidiary - a company that is owned by a larger company บริษัทลูก
gaining ground - making advances (in a better position then it was before)
competitive - involving competition มีการแข่งขัน
first quarter - the first three months of the year (used for budgeting and reporting on financial performance within companies)
on track - project on schedule, going according to plan, achieving the goals it said it would achieve
mobile operators - companies that offer mobile phone service (for example: AIS, DTAC, Orange)
Mfone - a mobile phone joint venture between a Thai company and the Cambodian government (Read background on company)
trend - a new development in clothing, make-up, mobile phones, etc แนวโน้ม
SIM card - the tiny card in the back of a mobile phone that provides the phone with a telephone number (others can call)
Thaicom-owned Mfone leapfrogged Malaysia's Hello in the second quarter, according to Cambodian government figures released last week, picking up 100,000 additional users to 800,000 overall in a market with nine operators competing for just 5.5 million customers.
Mfone CEO Adisai Soonthornratanarak predicts that the sector will have to consolidate to around four operators in the longer term, which has forced his company to overhaul its marketing strategy over the past few months in a bid to secure as many users as possible.
leapfrogged - jumped
over, advanced ahead of
figures - statistics, numbers describing the economy
released - made available to the public
picking up - gaining
sector - a part of the economy (public sector = government, private sector = all businesses, household sector = families and consumers, banking sector,...) ภาคเศรษฐกิจของประเทศ (See Wikipedia)
consolidate - to join together, reduce in size and make stronger รวมเป็นหนึ่ง
overhaul - to improve something so that every part of it works properly ปรับปรุงใหม่
overhaul - repair completely and rebuild
strategy - a plan to achieve a goal over a longer period of time (longer than a "tactic")
bid - an attempt to do something ความพยายาม
secure - to get or achieve something การได้มาซึ่ง
figures - statistics, numbers describing the economy
released - made available to the public
picking up - gaining
sector - a part of the economy (public sector = government, private sector = all businesses, household sector = families and consumers, banking sector,...) ภาคเศรษฐกิจของประเทศ (See Wikipedia)
consolidate - to join together, reduce in size and make stronger รวมเป็นหนึ่ง
overhaul - to improve something so that every part of it works properly ปรับปรุงใหม่
overhaul - repair completely and rebuild
strategy - a plan to achieve a goal over a longer period of time (longer than a "tactic")
bid - an attempt to do something ความพยายาม
secure - to get or achieve something การได้มาซึ่ง
In what has become a highly specialised market, Mfone since mid-June has launched packages targeting Chinese, South Korean and Filipino citizens in Cambodia offering cheap calls back home, as well as a new Muslim SIM with tariffs starting at US$0.08 (2.60 baht) to Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
''It's not a joyful process, it takes time, but we believe we are on track,'' he said. ''You aren't going anywhere with a price war. Look at the market right now _ you think anyone is making money?''
specialised
- in a narrow and very special area of knowledge
launched - started เริ่มต้นดำเนินการ
targeting - directing advertising, criticism or a product at someone เล็งไปที่
tariff - fee for use of service
joyful - with great happiness ที่เปี่ยมไปด้วยความสุข
process - a series of actions that you take in order to achieve a result แนวทางปฏิบัติ, กระบวน, วิธีการ
launched - started เริ่มต้นดำเนินการ
targeting - directing advertising, criticism or a product at someone เล็งไปที่
tariff - fee for use of service
joyful - with great happiness ที่เปี่ยมไปด้วยความสุข
process - a series of actions that you take in order to achieve a result แนวทางปฏิบัติ, กระบวน, วิธีการ
Compared to Thailand where operators have come under pressure to lower calling costs, in Cambodia the government at the end of last year set a minimum tariff after a major rift between market leader Mobitel and newest entrant Beeline, owned by Nasdaq-listed Vimpelcom Ltd.
Mobitel was the subject of the largest refinancing deal in Cambodian history after the local company the Royal Group bought out majority stakeholder Millicom International for $321 million in November. The operator has since been linked to a string of major telecoms companies including Axiata, owner of Hello, and DoCoMo of Japan in what is expected to be a part selloff as Mobitel looks to pay back a bridging loan of $421m. Talks with France Telecom have continued since the end of last year with an agreement expected before 2011, although Royal Group chief financial officer Mark Hanna refused to comment as Mobitel is ''in the middle of the deal.''
pressure
- trying to force someone to do something
come under pressure - someone began to force another person to do something
rift - a serious disagreement between two people or groups ความแตกร้าว
major rift - big disagreement
refinancing - getting new funds to operate the business
local - in the area or country you live in ท้องถิ่น
majority - more than 50%
stakeholder - owning part of a company
majority stakeholder - owning more than 50% of a company
linked - connected to เชื่อมโยง
expected - believe will happen คาดว่า (จะเกิดขึ้น)
selloff - the selling of something
loan - an amount of money that a person, business, or country borrows, especially from a bank เงินกู้
bridging loan - bridge loan
bridge loan - a short-term loan while waiting for longer-term financing (used for example when real estate sale will pay for real estate purchase but purchase comes before sale) (See Wikipedia)
officer - a high level person in an organisation with special responsibilities (a government officer, a police officer, an army officer)
comment - remark, telling what you think or what your opinion is about an issue หมายเหตุ
refused to comment - was silent when asked for their opinion
come under pressure - someone began to force another person to do something
rift - a serious disagreement between two people or groups ความแตกร้าว
major rift - big disagreement
refinancing - getting new funds to operate the business
local - in the area or country you live in ท้องถิ่น
majority - more than 50%
stakeholder - owning part of a company
majority stakeholder - owning more than 50% of a company
linked - connected to เชื่อมโยง
expected - believe will happen คาดว่า (จะเกิดขึ้น)
selloff - the selling of something
loan - an amount of money that a person, business, or country borrows, especially from a bank เงินกู้
bridging loan - bridge loan
bridge loan - a short-term loan while waiting for longer-term financing (used for example when real estate sale will pay for real estate purchase but purchase comes before sale) (See Wikipedia)
officer - a high level person in an organisation with special responsibilities (a government officer, a police officer, an army officer)
comment - remark, telling what you think or what your opinion is about an issue หมายเหตุ
refused to comment - was silent when asked for their opinion
What happens with Mobitel will have a major bearing on the future of Cambodia's mobile market, say analysts, with Mfone aiming to secure the No. 3 spot behind the Vietnamese operator Viettel.
''It's a tough market compared with that of Thailand,'' he said, calling on the Cambodian government to address over-competition, which he says is prompting reduced investment in infrastructure and could lead to lower quality network services. ''Competition is good, but it needs to have some balance.''
X has a major bearing on Y - what
happens in X will affect what happens in Y
spot - position
tough - difficult ยากลำบาก
address - to deal with a problem จัดการปัญหา
prompting - causing
investment - taking your money and putting it into projects to make a profit or earn interest (buying stock shares, bonds, real estate)
infrastructure - the basic equipment and services that an economy or company relies on (tracks and trains for a railway)
network - a large system of connected parts, organisations, people, etc. เครือข่าย
spot - position
tough - difficult ยากลำบาก
address - to deal with a problem จัดการปัญหา
prompting - causing
investment - taking your money and putting it into projects to make a profit or earn interest (buying stock shares, bonds, real estate)
infrastructure - the basic equipment and services that an economy or company relies on (tracks and trains for a railway)
network - a large system of connected parts, organisations, people, etc. เครือข่าย
(Source: Thaicom's Mfone bounces back, Thai satellite operator's subsidiary is gaining ground in the highly competitive and crowded Cambodian market, 16/08/2010, Steve Finch, link)
