MPTC bans VoIP use to local mobiles

Cambodian daily Phnom Penh Post writes that the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Cambodia (MPTC) has called on the country’s ISPs to ban voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls to local mobile phones for security reasons. Chem Sangva, the ministry’s director general of inspection, said that VoIP causes problems in tracking lawbreakers, and criminals are using the technology to avoid detection. The ban does not apply to VoIP calls to phones outside Cambodia or to incoming overseas calls. According to the report, the ministry has also banned mobile operators from allowing their customers to call competing local networks using the operator’s own international gateway. In a third ruling, the MPTC said mobile operators must change all short codes starting with 117, 118 and 119, as they interfere with the new national emergency services dialling codes.