Source: Rich Garella - The Cambodia Daily, May 7, 1997

At 9:34 am on Tuesday a computer at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications became the first in Cambodia to have a full-time Internet connection by bouncing an electronic message off a counterpart in California.

The computer is operated by CamNet, a partnership between the ministry and the International Development Research Center, a Canadian aid organization. CamNet plans to sell Internet accounts, including e-mail, to the public while providing access to educational and other public-interest institutions.

CamNet's competition in the new market for full Internet services is Big Pond, a service operated by Telstra, the Australian telecommunications company. Telstra operates an Internet service in Australia under the same name, but Cambodia is Big Pond's first venture overseas. A Telstra official said that Big Pond's server should go on-line Wednesday, connecting to a server in Australia. The target date for Big Pond to begin selling individual accounts is June 1. Although CamNet staff were able to view pages on the Internet's World Wide Web within 20 minutes of the initial connection, further Internet services such as receiving e-mail and exploring the thousands of discussion groups known as Usenet will take longer to set up.

Moa Chakrya, MPTC's Internet manager, said that CamNet may be ready to sell accounts to the public as early as three weeks from now. Even before that, he added, a public-access center for viewing-or "surfing"-the World Wide Web should be open at the office of Lidee Khmer, on Street 53.

According to Telstra officials, Big Pond operates under a license that says that only it and CamNet are permitted to offer Internet services in Cambodia for five years. Although the two services will compete directly for customers, they will have to cooperate in other areas. Telstra is under contract with the government to develop and operate international long-distance telephone services-including the full-time leased line used by CamNet. Neither service has yet announced its rates.

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