AsiaInfo-Linkage inks contract with Mfone

An Mfone employee discusses roaming SIM card services with a customer in one of its Phnom Penh offices. Photo by: Sovan Philong

NASDAQ-listed AsiaInfo-Linkage has signed its first contract outside China with Cambodia’s mobile-phone service provider Mfone, according to an official.

The firm is a provider of telecoms software and IT security, and will develop a “business intelligence” system to give Mfone an edge in the Kingdom’s crowded mobile-phone sector.

AsiaInfo officials declined to comment on the cost and role of the system yesterday, and one official said the firm’s management had “decided to keep a low profile” on the deal.

However, in a press release announcing the agreement, the firm said the business intelligence system was designed primarily to enhance Mfone’s business analysis capabilities in the Cambodian marketplace.

“The system is being built in response to increased competition in the Cambodian telecommunications market,” it said.

According to AsiaInfo-Linkage’s website, the system allows telecoms operators to “win new customers and expanding market share at a cost lower than that of their competitors”.

It uses data warehousing to assist service providers with decision-making while lowering costs by “focusing on the most exploitable customer group while attracting new customers”, it said.

AsiaInfo-Linkage boasts several of the largest Chinese mobile providers – including China Mobile and China Telecom – as clients.

Meanwhile, Mfone has grown to become the third-largest mobile service provider in the Kingdom as measured by active subscriber numbers, according to the most recent information from Cambodia’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

CEO Adisai Soonthornratanarak previously told the Post that Mfone – 51 percent owned by Thaicom and 49 percent by Asia Mobile Holdings – looked to increasingly target specific demographics.

Mfone has launched SIMs targeted towards Korean and Muslim people living in Cambodia during the last two months, joining a number of tariffs such as those aimed at Chinese-Cambodians and businessmen. Mfone’s CEO could not be reached for comment yesterday.
(source from the phnompenhpost newspaper,Tuesday, 31 August 2010 15:00 Jeremy Mullins)