The company behind Cambodian taxi booking app iTsumo has welcomed an increase in competition in what looks to be an increasingly congested market following recent announcements that US ridesharing giants Uber were interested in launching operations in the Kingdom.
In March, Uber expanded their services to cover Yangon in Myanmar, having already established themselves in Singapore and major cities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Company representatives held meetings with Ministry of Transport officials in Phnom Penh in April, receiving support from Minister Sun Chanthol.
Uber’s main rival in the region is the Singapore-based Grab, which also launched in Myanmar around the same time and has presence in the same ASEAN nations.
However Mom Cleomora, CEO of local tech company and app developers iTsumo Technologies, says they are not feeling threatened by the imminent arrival of Uber and Grab.
“We are not afraid that they will take all the market share, he said. “Instead, we’re seeing the synergy when Uber and Grab come to Cambodia.
“iTsumo has already been operating for six months here and I can say that 90% of our customers are foreigners. Most local passengers still do not know the app and they don’t know how to use it either. So I think there’s still huge potential”.
Cleomora thinks that Uber will use their “big name” to make a “big impact” in the Kingdom. “I hope this will help educating local passengers as well as taxi drivers about the high tech taxi service, make them getting used to it,” he said.
“I believe local taxi services such as iTsumo, the Cambodia Taxi, will also benefit from that. So we are happy to cooperate with them if needed.”
The CEO claims that iTsumo has become one of the top rated apps in Cambodian stores for both riders and drivers. “As local service providers, we’re confident that we know more about the local customers than Uber or Grab does, and we think we can also help them to operate their services smoothly here. So welcome to Cambodia!”
