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by marcus_holmes
2746 days ago
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Also, East Asia skipped wired internet completely and went straight from nothing to mobile. And internet is cheap, really cheap, in East Asia. I'm in Vietnam at the moment and my gf got a SIM card for unlimited 4G/LTE data for 15 days (the length of a visa-free visit here) for $8. That's the expensive foreigner price. I didn't even bother getting a SIM - she hotspots me on the rare times we're somewhere that there isn't free WIFI. I was in Cambodia earlier in the year, and was paying US$1/week for effectively-unlimited data (250Gb each week). Thailand is a bit more pricey for farang, but still not bad. Australia was AU$1/day for 30Gb over 30 days. It's not a huge expense, but the difference is noticeable. I think it's the nature of the market. There's no way that SE Asians would pay Western prices for internet, so the price comes down. |
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In those countries you mentioned yes. Cambodia isn't representative for SEA, it's a very poor and poorly managed country. Go to Malaysia and Singapore and physical infrastructure is common.
> That's the expensive foreigner price. > Thailand is a bit more pricey for farang
Not sure why you are paying "foreigner price" for sim-card/data in Thailand or Cambodia. You can just go to any shop and you will be charged the same price as anyone else.
> There's no way that SE Asians would pay Western prices for internet, so the price comes down.
A few other things to note:
* There is no net neutrality in these countries, data packages includes 'unlimited' or big data allowances restricted to Facebook/Youtube.
* Data connection is great in cities like Phnom Penh but as soon as you get out on the countryside you are back to a slow 3G connection (improving though). So: it's a lot cheaper to build infrastructure for a limited area.
* Cambodia is a very flat country making it a lot easier to build mobile networks compared to some European countries or in the US.