Getting a SIM card on arrival in Cambodia

Yes. Cambodia widely sells physical prepaid tourist SIMs to visitors, independent of any eSIM already in use — available at airport-arrivals kiosks, official carrier stores and many phone shops in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville. At Phnom Penh and Siem Reap–Angkor airports, look for Smart Axiata, Cellcard and Metfone counters, which can normally install and activate the SIM before you leave. Official carrier stores are the better choice if connectivity isn't needed immediately — registration tends to be more predictable and pricing often carries less of an airport markup than kiosks. For a mainstream Phnom Penh/Siem Reap route, Smart is the carrier most commonly sold to visitors and offers a dedicated Traveller SIM bundle; Metfone is often chosen for broader rural/provincial reach; Cellcard is worth considering for specific areas like Koh Rong and the islands, or as a second network. On a dual-SIM phone, an existing eSIM can stay active alongside the physical Cambodian line, which is useful for a local number for drivers, hotels, calls, OTPs or data redundancy. Use an official operator outlet where possible rather than an unverified street seller — improper registration can cause service problems later.

Yes. Cambodia requires a physical SIM to be identity-registered before activation; for a visitor that means presenting a valid passport, which the shop or carrier counter records — often scanning or copying it, and sometimes taking a live photo — as part of registration. In practice: buy from an official Smart, Cellcard or Metfone store or counter (including airport counters), bring the original passport rather than just a photo of it or the passport number, and activation is normally completed within a few minutes at purchase, leaving with a working Cambodian +855 number. Avoid a retailer offering to sell an already-active, pre-registered SIM without going through this process — it may be registered to someone else, which creates real risk of suspension, recovery problems, or complications for OTP/account verification down the line. The same identity-registration principle also applies to locally issued eSIMs, not just physical SIMs.

Yes — at both major international airports, carrier-run SIM kiosks in the arrivals/public waiting area sell and register physical prepaid tourist SIMs on arrival (bring a passport). At Phnom Penh / Techo International Airport, booths for Smart Axiata, Cellcard and Metfone are reported in the arrivals hall — buy only from a clearly branded counter. At Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport (SAI), Metfone, Cellcard and Smart Axiata kiosks are reported in the public waiting/arrivals area. For a late arrival at Siem Reap specifically, Metfone is the safer first counter to target, as it's reported to run 24/7 there while Smart and Cellcard have been reported operating roughly 06:00–23:00 (see airport_sim_hours for the caveats on this). At either airport, ask for a physical prepaid tourist SIM, have the agent register it against your passport, and verify mobile data plus inbound SMS/calls before leaving the counter.

Don't assume Cambodia's airport SIM counters are open 24/7 — coverage for red-eye arrivals is genuinely variable. At Siem Reap–Angkor (SAI) specifically, counters may not be staffed until around 06:00–06:30; a February 2026 on-site report found Metfone and Smart only starting operations at 06:27, with Cellcard's hours unconfirmed. At Phnom Penh / Techo International, multiple carrier counters (Smart, Cellcard, Metfone) are reported in the arrivals hall, and one recent travel report claims SIMs are sold 24/7 there — but that isn't a carrier- or airport-published schedule, so treat it as unconfirmed rather than guaranteed. Practical recommendation for a red-eye arrival: keep an existing eSIM active for the first few hours and buy the physical Cambodian SIM once the counters open; if landing during normal daytime or evening hours, the airport counters should be straightforward. For guaranteed connectivity immediately on a very late arrival, arranging a local eSIM in advance (or having a hotel/driver meet you) is the safer plan — use the official operator counter afterward to get a properly passport-registered physical SIM if wanted.