Recently I wrote an article on internet development in Cambodia. When looking at the statistics in that report, it appears as if Cambodia did not have internet connectivity before the year 2001. That is not the case.
Actually Cambodia was connected to the internet via a 64 kbps satellite link to Singapore in May 1997. Camnet was using IP addresses registered in Singapore and BigPond (nowadays Cogetel / Online) was using IP addresses registered in Australia (by their then-parent company Telstra). In 2001 the operators acquired their own IP address delegations from APNIC.
Before May 1997 there was no IP protocol connectivity, but some sort of e-mail connectivity was possible using dial-up modem lines.
Have a look at the following sources to find out more about internet and telecommunications history and development in Cambodia during the early years:
- International Telecommunications Union (ITU): Cambodia Case Study
- High-tech in the hinterlands: Cambodia and the Internet
- Sophal Ear: The Internet Comes to Cambodia
The ITU report also covers the telephone network (both mobile and fixed lines) development, not only the internet.