Chunghwa plans Cambodia launch

Chunghwa Telecom of Thailand plans to cooperate with Vietnamese operator Ciettel to offer telecoms services in Cambodia, according to Chairman and CEO Ho Chen Tan. ‘Chunghwa Telecom is working with Viettel to offer telecom services in Cambodia,’ Ho Chen told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview on the sidelines of a telecom conference in Hanoi. The telco currently owns a 30% in an internet data storage joint venture with Viettel and appears keen to further the relationship. Viettel, which is run by the Vietnam Ministry of Defence, is the only Vietnamese telecom company to have received permission to operate telecom services in Cambodia. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Viettel was granted a 30-year GSM concession in December 2006 with 1800MHz spectrum; it has reportedly spent around USD27 million on new infrastructure, and hopes to launch services by the end of 2008.