Cambodia’s 5G rollout began simultaneously across all three operators on 1 January 2026. Between then and 8 June, they deployed 2,091 base stations. The speed surprised most observers. It should not have.
By 12 February, 1,494 base stations: Smart Axiata leading with 674, Metfone 531, Cellcard 289. By 8 June: Smart 748, Cellcard 742, Metfone 601. Cellcard went from third place to near-parity in four months.
“Recently, even 4G only has better coverage in some areas, while others still face slow speeds.” — Seun Sam, Royal Academy of Cambodia. The priority should be performance, not simply the 5G label.
Strong 4G foundations
93.2% population coverage across 13,498 towers meant existing site infrastructure was ready.
Three simultaneous launches created competitive pressure
Unusual in regional telecom — the simultaneous date compressed the deployment race.
Sub-6 GHz spectrum enables wide coverage
3.5 GHz mid-band means more territory covered per site than mmWave deployments.
Government mandate created regulatory urgency
PM Hun Manet personally authorised the nationwide system.
Huawei ecosystem dominance
Smart and Metfone both run Huawei — shared vendor stack improves deployment consistency.
Financial pre-positioning
Smart secured USD 50M financing eight months before launch, specifically for 5G readiness.
No legacy fixed broadband to protect
No FTTH cannibalisation dilemma — the FWA commercial model is cleaner.
Smart’s FWA product installs in under five minutes, activated via QR code. In a market with low FTTH penetration, 5G FWA is, for many users, the first reliable broadband they’ve accessed.
The 5-SIM-per-ID regulatory cap closes off the volume-of-subscribers growth model, forcing a pivot toward revenue-per-customer and B2B services.
