We Can’t Ignore the Urban-Rural Digital Divide

As the world leans into technological advancement, digital technology has become an important aspect in education, employment and public services.

Cambodia, a so-called “Rising Digital Powerhouse” in Southeast Asia, faces digital inequality. 

According to Digital Portal reports at the end of 2025, approximately 32 percent of Cambodians in rural areas are offline. 

This reality reveals a deeply troubling contradiction. Both the Ministry of Post and Telecomunication Report and the Digital Economy and Business Committee Portal have noted the lack of infrastructure, showing that while urban cities are rapidly advancing through digital growth and innovation, vast rural communities remain disconnected and excluded from these opportunities. 

This isn’t just some gap; it’s a national emergency. If left unresolved, the digital divide will trap millions in a cycle of disadvantage and create a generation shut out of education, decent jobs and social mobility. Cambodia cannot afford to ignore this issue, as the consequences could undermine the country’s social and economic future.

Factors That Lead to the Digital Divide

Walking through the bustling streets of Phnom Penh, you’ll see a nation sprinting toward the future 5G network with skyscrapers, QR codes in every stall and millions with digital devices in hand. 

Yet hours from the city in the rural commune in Coastal Side, Chrouy Svay, as an example, and based on the report by Co-Impact Cambodia, this digital powerhouse faded into a digital divide. It isn’t just about technology but about a distant future for those who get to participate in Cambodia’s future.

As mentioned in the World Bank, the June 2025 Cambodia Economic Update highlights that while the economy is growing, infrastructure quality, specifically irregular electricity supply in rural regions, remains a major barrier to digital equity. 

The lack of towers, reliable electricity and unequal internet access in the remote area create digital inequality. Opportunities are lost, job offers are unattainable, education is left behind, and internet access is poor and expensive. 

This instability prevents businesses and schools in remote areas from adopting the Digital Government tools the central government is pushing. 

While urban people enjoy the perks of internet access, rural people are left offline, only dreaming and struggling to reach that level.

Shortcomings in Education

Digital skills and education play a vital role in the development and growth of Cambodia’s digital economy. Based on the Digital Skills Development Roadmap 2024–2035, demand for skills such as computer literacy, coding, data analysis, digital marketing and cybersecurity is increasing across sectors including technology, e-commerce, finance, and entrepreneurship. 

While progress has been made in recent years, challenges remain in terms of acquiring digital skills and ensuring accessible education.

Furthermore, the lack of education about the digital world is evident. According to the Data Portal, only 32.7 percent of Cambodians possess basic digital skills, and only a few teachers with ICT skills teach in these rural areas. 

Based on the UNFPA School, it is clear that less than 10 percent of primary students and only 35 percent of lower secondary students in rural areas have access to a computer at school, and they often have little to no equipment, even outdated equipment. 

A language barrier is a clear sign of this issue as well. This shows how great this inequality and gaps really are, limiting the ability of youth to grow and benefit the country.

Financial Issues

This inequality is also reflected in the economic state of rural people, whose income is just enough to feed themselves. The affordability of devices and training programs is a barrier for some individuals, especially those from lower-income backgrounds. 

And as a report Cambodia: Freedom on the Net 2023, the cost of internet access in Cambodia is high in relation to the average earnings in the country, with the average price of fixed broadband at $28 per month and the price of mobile internet at $0.42 per GB, which is out of reach for many poor families, especially in rural areas where the average earnings are much lower than the officially set minimum wage. 

So, with digital devices like computers or laptops costing $300 and service costs of $15 monthly, the internet is unreachable. 

This is highlighted by the fact that limited internet connectivity, inadequate infrastructure and unequal resource distribution contribute to the digital divide.

Why the Digital Divide Is a Critical Challenge 

Cambodia has set itself for a digital transformation in 2025, as stated in the Cambodia Digital Economy and Society Policy Framework (2021-2035). 

However, the digital divide remains a significant barrier to the growth of Cambodia’s digital economy, limiting businesses’ and individuals’ access to digital technologies and platforms. 

It also exacerbates inequalities, as those without access to digital technologies are unable to participate in the digital economy and benefit from its opportunities. Improving digital infrastructure and access is essential for the growth of Cambodia’s digital economy.

The lack of digital readiness, the levels of how prepared people and systems are to participate in the digital world, is low, which greatly impacts the country’s ability to compete in the ASEAN region. 

As the global and regional economy becomes increasingly dominated by digital technology, countries are moving towards developing industries that leverage data analysis, e-commerce, automation, artificial intelligence and digital management systems. 

Neighboring countries like Vietnam and Thailand have accelerated their digital transformation strategies through significant investments in digital infrastructure, coding education, smart manufacturing, and digital entrepreneurship. 

However, Cambodia is still struggling to overcome digital skills gaps, especially in rural areas where training and technology are limited. 

Without the workforce possessing the skills needed to compete in the industry through the power of data literacy, programming, cybersecurity and digital business management, the workforce of Cambodia is not able to compete in the industry and is forced to remain in low-skilled and low-wage jobs like basic manufacturing and laboring jobs.

This creates a digital skills gap that reduces national productivity and limits the ability of Cambodian businesses to adopt advanced digital technologies, missing out on productivity gains and high-skill job opportunities, according to ADB and UNDP. 

Multinational corporations operating in ASEAN prefer nations with a highly skilled workforce and robust technology infrastructure. 

If Cambodia cannot offer a workforce that meets the contemporary demands of digital technology, it may risk losing investment to more technologically advanced economies in the region. 

This will eventually create economic disparities among ASEAN economies and undermine their future growth prospects. In this way, the digital divide becomes not just a social issue but an economic challenge facing Cambodia’s competitiveness.

What Have Been Done

As the Cambodian government accelerates its Digital Government Policy 2022–2035 based on OPEN DEVELOPMENT MEKONG, public services are shifting and are rapidly moving to the cloud to increase efficiency. 

However, for the millions of Cambodians without reliable internet or offline access, according to data shown by DIGITALPORTAL, this so-called “digital transformation” can feel like a new wall. Urban tech-savvy citizens can easily engage with the state, while rural populations remain tethered to slow, physical public services. 

Without universal access, the e-government revolution would become an exclusive club, deepening the divide, creating a much greater gap between the state and the citizens it aims to serve.

The government has launched an Internet Universality initiative and initiated an assessment of its internet development, based on UNESCO guidelines, to support equitable access, digital rights and digital literacy across the country. 

It is a positive step. Although the initiative has the positive intention of promoting equitable access, digital rights, and digital literacy, it has its limitations. Firstly, the issue of structural poverty in rural areas remains a major hindrance, as the poor have more pressing needs than access to the internet or other digital tools. 

Secondly, affordability, despite the availability of infrastructure, remains a hindrance to the successful implementation of the initiative. Thirdly, infrastructure issues, such as power outages and poor internet quality, limit the initiative’s effectiveness. 

Therefore, despite its positive intention, the initiative remains limited by the issue of economic inequality and the level of development in Cambodia.

Also, UNICEF and Cambodia’s Ministry of Education have launched a nationwide digital platform for teacher training in late 2025, helping educators integrate digital teaching tools to address the digital divide. 

While the initiative is a great step toward achieving the aims of ensuring equitable access, digital rights and digital literacy, it has several limitations. For instance, structural poverty in rural areas remains a major barrier to the initiative. 

Moreover, the initiative will still face affordability issues despite the availability of the required infrastructure. In addition, digital literacy programs are still limited in rural areas, which will negatively affect the initiative. 

Furthermore, the lack of electricity and poor internet connectivity will negatively influence the initiative. Thus, despite the initiative’s positive nature, it has several limitations in the Cambodian context, given the country’s economic inequality.

Not only that, social enterprises like Digital Divide Data focus on technology training and impact sourcing that help participants gain digital employment skills and give them the opportunity to bridge the gap in this digital inequality. 

Although this supports individual capacity building, such initiatives cover a relatively small proportion of the population and often center on employment skills rather than basic literacy, which is a problem.

What Must Be Done 

The Government should work with the private sector, NGOs, international organizations, and companies such as Smart, Cellcard and Metfone to build more internet infrastructure expanding the coverage in rural areas, and provide discount mobile data packages for students.

The Government should work with more NGOs and IGs, such as UNHCR and UNICEF with programs that provide funding for technology equipment for students, offering students support in digital literacy training, providing students with scholarships, promoting the digital job market and encouraging students to study in the digital field.

It should also help develop digital policies and monitor small programs to give educational equality to everyone.

The Government should integrate some  lessons from other countries. For example, countries like Vietnam and Thailand have also initiated ambitious digital transformation plans. 

For instance, Vietnam’s National Digital Transformation Program, along with its digital identity program, VNeID, aims to transform its public services and develop its digital economy. 

Thailand’s Thailand 4.0 program, along with its National Digital Economy and Society Development Plan, is also focused on expanding digital infrastructure, developing digital skills and digitalizing government services through platforms.

The Government can collaborate with the private sector, NGOs, and other organizations to fund infrastructure. For instance, the Atlassian Foundation funded a $550,000 project undertaken by the Cambodian Children’s Trust, which aimed to establish ICT education and computer laboratories in public schools, reaching over 18,000 students. 

Programs such as Smart School Anywhere have provided rural communities with mobile digital classrooms equipped with laptops. 

These programs have been undertaken in collaboration with local education authorities. The government can collaborate with other organizations to fund infrastructure, which can help bridge the gap between urban and rural areas. 

There needs to be more promotion to address the lack of digital skills, giving people an opportunity to learn, offering scholarships, and programming education to teach practical digital skills for employment and safe internet use. 

There should be boot camps and internships to encourage more students to have better job opportunities. By this, the NGOs are the most important, as they implement community training programs, go down the line, and promote them. One more thing the government can do is to set a national digital strategy and regulations.

The private sector plays a major role. They should begin advancing their move into rural areas to improve internet access and connectivity. Also, they should start events or programs to raise funds to provide rural schools with computers and small events where they can learn basic digital skills. 

They can partner with NGOs in rural areas by providing funds to distribute low-cost laptops or tablets, train teachers in digital education, subsidize internet for low-income families, and provide free Wi-Fi in rural schools.

Toun Udom is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the Institute for International Studies and Public Policy. His research interests lie in Cambodia’s social development, public policy and ASEAN foreign policy.