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Phnom
Penh (Ah!)
- CAMBODIA'S
YOUNG TELECOM WORLD
D. J. Ken - National Radio Text Service
Youths rule in Cambodia's developing IT industry. Twenty four thousand attendees turned out for the three day event and gamers ruled as they were the big players and participants at the event. The house rocked with entertainment - Computers, telephones and accessories were exhibited but games were the big draw - KFC MAKES GIANT STEP - GO FIGURE FILIPINO CONCERT SECRETS?
Phnom Penh,Cambodia Monday April 5, 2010 GAMERS RULED THE EXPO From all indications the Cambodia ICT & Telecom World Expo presented by IDG (International Data Group) was a success. According to IDG's senior sales executive Soeng Tarith approximately 24,000 visitors entered the event at Diamond Island (Kho Pich) for the three day event April 1-3. From our observations on two visits Friday and Saturday about 80% of the attendees were high school and college age. Tarith had a different point of view in reversing the figures to be 20% university students, 60% from IT companies and the remainder others. The Expo was in conjunction with an Architecture and construction section that had booths on the expo floor. On the opening day there was a loosely arranged affair of speakers who addressed the future of the IT industry in Cambodia. According to the Cambodia Daily the major concern was the government wanting all of the companies doing business in the nation to channel their services through the government's system. Two problems can evolve from such an arrangement one being government control of the flow of information and censorship. The other being the government is not known for having high speed state of the art technology and that could negate the quality and effectiveness of those companies who have better equipment and are more aware of the new technologies. It was the sixth ICT Expo that IDG began in 2005. The popularity of the Expo has grown from 100 booths last year to 200 for this occasion. Over the years IDG has held the affair at several locations including the Naga and Cambodiana Hotels and two years at the Mondial Center. Tharith said the first year the Expo had an attendance of around 8-9 thousand. Since the Expo is free the attendance is based on the amount of stickers given out as one enters the building. Tharith pointed out that this site served the event well since it had plenty of parking for the visitors. The most active booths were those with games as crowds of students waited in line to get their chance to test their computer gaming skills. The Russian owned cell phone company Beeline was the primary sponsor of the event. KFC MAKES GIANT STEP If you love fried chicken then you have to love KFC who do it right in Cambodia. Their staff is well trained, polite and efficient. But here's the real deal… KFC has installed FREE access to the Internet at their shops via the EZECOM WI-FI Network. We tried the service at their riverfront location near the post office and it was in the almost fast category. We tried it again at their Monivong location and the service was slower. In both instances we connected to the service between 3 & 4 PM when Internet traffic can be busy due to heavy use by students finishing their school day. The bottom line is this is a master move for KFC and well done. GO FIGURE - FILIPINO CONCERT SECRETS? The ad on the KFC door read that there was to be a concert featuring Filipino talent including Laarni LoSala whom their powers that be changed her name to LoZada without consulting her. We do not recognize the change as she won the contest with her real name LoSala which sounds better. LoSala was a contestant on the Dream Academy that consisted of talent who auditioned for the show and those selected were trained to improve their vocal skills such as singing properly from the diaphragm and not the throat as the majority of vocalists do in Cambodia. At first we approached the story as just a TV review as we have reviewed Filipino television shows over the past six years. With this show LoSala was subject to ridicule and abuse from the teachers/mentor as well as being verbally abused and isolated by fellow cast members. We were outraged about the behavior of all involved resulting in what was to be a weekly review of the program turned into a 16 part series title THE PERSECUTION OF LAARNI.
That series took five of our NR Top 10 spots in our September 2008 ratings and seven of the Top 12. Obviously there was a lot of interest in the story.. Though in our opinion she had the best voice on the show she wasn't given the credit she deserved and was continually harassed which brought her to tears on several occasions. She was the most frequented occupant of the bottom three subject to elimination from the show. This further outraged us but the voting public agreed with us and voted her through until she eventually overcame the torment and won the title With out being so familiar with her talent we were shocked to see that she was to appear in Phnom Penh at the Olympic Stadium Arena at 4 PM. The good news is Laarni is achieving some deserved success as she hasn't been a regular on the ASAP show as the previous dream Academy winner Yeng Constantino has been give superstar treatment by the ABS/CBN Network. Constantino's voice lacks the strength and richness of LoSala's. The Phnom Penh concert ticket prices are scaled at $50, $20 and $10 which we thought $50 to be quite high. We tried to contact the promoter to find out the underlying principle behind the pricing as they are falling into the overpriced trap that CTN experienced when they promoted Ronan in May 2007 at the same venue that was poorly attended. We contacted one of the number listed on the poster and expressed out opinion and asked for reason why. What we did find out is that there are 6,000 Filipinos residing in Cambodia. The Arena seats 8,000. If the concert is presented in the Filipino language that limits it potential drawing power and appeal to non Filipinos and those who don't speak the language. A Filipino comedian is also on the bill with singer Jed Madela. When we pressed for more answers we were given the promoters number which when called was diverted thus raising red flags. LoSala is a great talent IF she is singing the right material for her voice. When she appeared on ASAP the material the ASAP powers that be gave her did not compliment her voice. As a former musician, music journalist and having worked with management firms that were involved in concerts in stadiums seating 60,000 people including in Tokyo, Japan this concert remains a mystery. For those interested in attending the show the numbers on the poster are: (016) 640-835, (092) 397-369 (085) 946-673 NATIONAL RADIO PUBLISHED IN 5 LANGUAGES We are published in five languages, English, Thai, French, Russian and Khmer (Cambodian language). Any of our foreign language material and our Roman Wanderaugh columns are legally available ONLY on our National Radio © Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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