Cambodia’s state-owned incumbent fixed line operator Telecom Cambodia (TC) is set to become one of the first companies to list on the country’s newly launched stock exchange later this year. The Phnom Penh Post reports that while the Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX) officially launched yesterday, stock trading will not actually take place until the end of the year at the earliest. Alongside TC, two other state-owned companies – Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port – will also issue shares on the CSX when trading eventually begins. The bourse is a 55/45 joint venture between the Cambodian government and the Korea Exchange, and has been in development since 2007. It was originally planned to open on 9 September 2009, but a date for a soft launch was pushed back to the first quarter of 2010 and again to July 2011, due to delays in passing necessary legislation.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, TC was formed in the first half of 2006, when the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) was split to form an operator (TC) and a market regulator (MPTC). TC was established to operate the PSTN and international gateway (previously operated by the MPTC) so that the regulator was not also a commercial participant in the market. The telco still operates under the administrative supervision of the MPTC and the financial supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.