Cambodia SIM Card & eSIM Guide (2026)

Mobile data in Cambodia is some of the cheapest on Earth, and you’ll lean on it constantly — Grab and PassApp for tuk-tuks, Google Maps between temples, translation apps at markets, QR payments everywhere. Here’s how to get connected within minutes of landing, and what it’ll cost in 2026.

The Short Answer

Buy a tourist SIM at the airport kiosk when you land — around $5 for roughly 30GB with local minutes on Smart or Cellcard, activated on the spot with your passport. If your phone supports eSIM and you want data working the moment you clear immigration, a travel eSIM bought before flying costs a few dollars more for less data, but zero queueing. Either way, this is a solved problem: don’t overthink it, and don’t pay for international roaming.

The Three Networks

• Smart Axiata — the tourist favourite. The dedicated Smart Traveller SIM runs about $5 with around 30GB for 15 days plus local and some international minutes. Fast 4G in every town travellers actually visit, and the most polished app for top-ups.
• Cellcard — the local quality pick, with tourist packs from free-SIM-plus-package deals to $10 bundles. Repeatedly rated the fastest network in urban Cambodia; excellent in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and the coast.
• Metfone — the coverage king. Built on the largest rural network in the country, with data bundles from $1 (5GB) up to $10 (100GB, 30 days). Choose it if your route leans remote — Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Koh Kong or long Mekong stretches — where the other two thin out.

For a typical temples-and-coast trip, any of the three is fine; pick whichever kiosk has no queue.

Airport Kiosk or Town Shop?

Both of Cambodia’s new gateways — Techo International (KTI) in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap–Angkor (SAI) — have operator kiosks in arrivals, staffed by English-speaking agents who register the SIM against your passport, cut it to size and confirm data is flowing before you walk away. The airport markup over a town shop is a dollar or two at most; the convenience wins.

Buying in town instead: any phone shop or operator storefront sells the same packages (bring your passport — registration is legally required, and unregistered street SIMs can be cut off without warning). Skip the convenience-store SIMs sold without registration.

eSIM: Worth It?

If your phone is eSIM-capable you have two routes:

1. Local operator eSIMs — Smart, Cellcard and Metfone all issue prepaid eSIMs at their own shops and kiosks for the same package prices as physical SIMs. Same passport process, no plastic.
2. Travel eSIM apps (Airalo, Holafly and similar) — installed before you fly, typically $4–11 for smaller data buckets. You pay more per GB and usually get no local phone number (which some Grab drivers will want to call), but you land online. The pragmatic combo: a small travel eSIM for arrival day, then a $5 local SIM for the trip.

Good to Know

• Top-ups are sold literally everywhere — scratch cards at street stalls, or in-app with a card. Data is cheap enough that running out costs pocket change to fix.
• Coverage reality: all three networks cover cities, temples and the tourist coast well. On the islands, expect usable-but-slow signal and treat resort wifi as a rumour. Remote northeast provinces are Metfone territory.
• Hotspotting is unrestricted on tourist packages — one SIM can feed a family’s devices at Angkor.
• KHQR payments: Cambodia runs on QR-code payments, and while your foreign banking apps work fine over any SIM, you’ll want data live before your first market run — see money in Cambodia for how paying actually works.
• Sorting the rest of your arrival admin? The first-time Cambodia guide covers visas, cash and airport transfers in one place.