Internet use and services have been hampered by the high cost of telecommunications in Cambodia, coupled with a shortage of IT professionals, poor infrastructure and difficulties in adapting the Khmer script - unique to Cambodia - for electronic communications. There have been various attempts at developing a Khmer font, but until recently the different systems have been incompatible; to read and write electronic messages in Khmer, both sender and recipient had to use the same font system.

In fact Internet use in Cambodia started fairly early. The 18-month administration of the United Nations Transitory Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) in 1992-93 prepared the ground for an ever-increasing volume of international communications. Soon after phone and fax links were established, Internet use became possible. Phnom Penh’s resident international community – embassies and UN agencies, business and NGOs – became Cambodia’s first group of Internet users, followed by Cambodian government agencies. Increased tourist numbers also stoked demand for publicly available Internet access.

By 1991 there were many Internet cafes in Phnom Penh, offering not only general Internet access, but also Voice Over Internet Protocol international phone connections, at a fraction of normal telephone rates (the Cambodian government has since cracked down on unlicensed VOIP services, on the grounds that they divert revenue from licensed telecommunications gateways). From mid 1994 it was possible to send and receive E-mail in Phnom Penh, and not long afterwards also in Siem Reap. Users in other locations could access E-mail by making a long-distance call to the Phnom Penh office of the Open Forum of Cambodia – an NGO fostering communication within Cambodia and with the outside world, to help break the many years of isolation. In the early years, the system had to access the Internet via an international phone call at US$5 a minute.

In 1997, in the course of one month, two commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs) started to offer satellite-based services: Camnet, a company created with Canadian funds and owned by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and Telstra of Australia, going initially under the name of Bigpond (now operated as the Online service under Cogitel). Telstra had already operated a satellite ground station handling international voice calls to and from Cambodia since the early 1990s.

The Cambodian public at large was not much involved in these early stages of development, as communication facilities were basically available only to those who could use English or French. Internet cafes provided, however, an easy access facility for a growing number of Khmer high-school and university students, who were happy to use this medium not only for communication but also for English language practice.

It can be expected that the Internet will become an important means of communication when an easy, standardised way of using the Khmer script in electronic communications is achieved. With the recent adoption of the Unicode font developed by the Open Forum of Cambodia as the national standard, this goal is now within reach - see Unicode below.