Cambodia’s Smart Launches WeChat Go SIM for Chinese Tourists

Cambodian mobile operator Smart Axiata has launched the Smart WeChat Go SIM, a prepaid product for Chinese visitors. The product is a result of Smart’s partnership with the Chinese messaging and mobile payment services provider WeChat. Smart WeChat Go SIM is available in three variants. Visitors receive unlimited access to WeChat and the Lingcod TV app; they also receive up to 8 GB of data for internet access, calls to China, and on-net calls and SMS in Cambodia.

The SIM cards will be available for purchase in designated distribution points in China as well as in Cambodia, at Siem Reap and Phnom Penh International Airports. In Cambodia, the three SIM types will be priced at US $3.00, US $5.00 and US $7.00, respectively. Smart WeChat Go SIM users can manage their usage through WeChat’s self-help mini-program in the Chinese language.

By 2020, nearly 2 million tourists from China are expected to visit Cambodia. An offer that is aimed at them is likely a very good idea for Smart, which can expect to sell a lot of SIMs to this fast-growing target market. And partnering with WeChat, which more than dominates the Chinese mobile market, is a natural way of doing it.

WeChat is the international brand name for the platform known in Chinese as Weixin (meaning “micro-message”). Developed by Chinese multinational Tencent, it combines a messaging service, its own social media and a mobile money functionality. It has more than 1 billion monthly active users, and more than 90 percent of its subscribers are based in China. WeChat also has very sophisticated business-oriented variations of its service. The influence and penetration of this so-called “super-app” outstrips anything the other OTT messaging apps, including WhatsApp, can do. That makes it in many ways a desirable partner for any operator outside China that is interested in developing a vigorous relationship with Chinese nationals.

The one potential problem for some operators in partnering with WeChat is that users in China have accused the app of participating with the Chinese government in censorship and surveillance efforts, and there are concerns globally about WeChat’s security or lack thereof. This cautionary note is being heard, but in markets such as Cambodia, these issues may be outweighed by the revenue opportunities and by the need to maintain a close relationship with China. In other markets, such as in the West, partnership with WeChat is likely to be less appealing and perhaps less necessary in any case.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.  If you have any questions about this article, feel free to contact our Editor-in-chief John Dorfman at jdorfman@tarifica.com

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Tajikistan Government Bans VoIP Calls

Tajikistan’s national telecommunications watchdog has annulled licenses for IP telephony services, according to a news report. Because of this action, mobile operators and ISPs have been forced to disconnect their voice applications. State institutions also plan to forbid calls over foreign messengers and VoIP applications.
 
The headquarters of the mobile operator Babilon-Mobile were closed by law enforcement officers on 15 December because the operator was providing IP telephony. After the operator disconnected those services, its headquarters were reopened. Mobile operators Tcell and Beeline Tajikistan had also provided the services previously.
 
The Tajikistan regulator said that it banned VoIP because of reduced tax income from calls. The agency also considers the activities of Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, WeChat and other messengers to be reducing state tax income, but the ban does not cover the messengers yet.
 
Mobile operators have long resented the incursion of OTT players, which took business away from their traditional voice telephony offerings, after having first taken a gigantic bite out of operators’ SMS and MMS revenue. In light of this history, it is particularly ironic that a government agency has struck a blow against VoIP—but not at all for the reasons that mobile operators would want it to be.
 
The Tajikistan government’s objection to VoIP is, apparently, simply that it is not taxable. And while it applies this criticism also to the non-MNO version—the popular international offerings of Skype, WhatsApp and others—it has chosen to target only those that originate with Tajikistan’s MNOs. Mobile operators’ VoIP offerings were for the most part created with the express purpose of undercutting the challenge from OTTs. Ironically, these are being shut down while the OTTs’ VoIP services are, for the time being at least, being allowed to continue operating.  

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.  

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Google to Launch Special Version of Google Play for China

Google plans to launch the China version of its Google Play smartphone app store in 2016, according to a Reuters report that cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter. According to the source, the Chinese Google Play would be set up specifically for China and not connected to overseas versions of Google Play. The U.S. internet giant plans to comply with Chinese laws on filtering content that might be viewed as sensitive by the ruling Communist Party, as well as with laws requiring the company to store its app store’s data within China. Google will use the app store to place other products and services in China, said two people familiar with Google’s plans. Google has scheduled its Google Play launch in China some time after Chinese New Year in February 2016 and before early summer, the same sources added. Google hopes that Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat platform will be among the payment options for the Chinese Google Play, according to a person familiar with company strategy. China is the world’s largest mobile market, with nearly 1.3 billion phones in use. As such it represents a massive opportunity for app sales that Google clearly does not intend to pass up. While explicit approval from the Chinese government is not required for Google to launch Google Play, compliance with pertinent regulations is necessary if the enterprise is to go forward. By agreeing to filter content, store all relevant data within China and disconnect Chinese Google Play from the Google Play available in the rest of the world, Google is ensuring its access to the Chinese market. However, it may also, in effect, be making a deal with the devil. Aside from the moral and political issues arising from a de facto endorsement of anti-democratic policies, Google’s willingness to abide by Chinese restrictions on freedom of expression—at least as far as apps are concerned—may end up by tarnishing its image in other countries where Google does business. For a company with a deep dependence on the general public and whose slogan is “don’t be evil,” this decision could conceivably be quite damaging. Whether any such damage would outweigh the revenue gains in China, of course, remains to be seen.  Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance. To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com

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Facebook Messenger Surpasses Skype

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