Internet users in Cambodia expected to reach 9.5 mln by 2020: official

Cambodian Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Prak Sokhonn said Monday that the country' s internet users are likely to reach up to 9.5 million by 2020, or 65 percent of the nation's estimated 14.7 million people. "In Cambodia, internet penetration rate is currently just over 30 percent,"he said at the opening of a telecommunication seminar, which was co-sponsored by Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology solutions provider. "We predict that by 2020, internet penetration rate will reach almost 65 percent due to increased connectivity and demands for access to all kinds of information and data, especially from young people,"the minister said.

The availability of low-cost internet-enabled devices will be key to increasing internet penetration among the lower-income population. According to the government's figures, the number of internet subscribers in Cambodia topped 5 million as of last year, up 29.5 percent from 3.86 million in a year earlier.

On the mobile-cellular penetration rate, the minister said mobile phone operators had sold out 20.45 million SIM cards by the end of last year, 39 percent more than the country's population.

"In Cambodia, mobile-cellular penetration rate reached 139 percent in 2014, the third highest mobile-cellular penetration country in ASEAN after Singapore and Malaysia,"he said. Endi