Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Nepal Telecom (NTC) to expand cheaper internet service nationwide.

Nepal Telecom (NT) has been endeavouring to expand cheaper internet service to all parts of the country. It plans to make its Sky Pro service available countrywide by October, and it is also engaged in two projects to extend its GSM 3G and WiMax services. Sky Pro is an IP CDMA technology-based voice-cum-data service. It will be the cheapest mobile data service (50 Paisa Per MB) having wide network coverage. The state-owned telecom giant has said that it will also set up 500 WiFi hotspots at airports and hospitals in various parts of the country.

With demand for data increasing rapidly, NT has been focusing on data service to make it its main revenue earner. As of now, most of its income comes from voice service. "Since the future market lies in data service, we are preparing ourselves for it with a variety of data services," said Amar Nath Singh, managing director of NT.

Speaking at an interaction on Monday, Singh said that internet service would be its main service in the next 10 years, and that they were preparing for the future market. Dial-up, GRPS, 3G, WiMax, Sky Data, Sky Pro and lease line connections are the data services being provided by the company. From the next fiscal year, it is also introducing the Fibre to the Home (FTTH) high-speed data service.

NT officials said that with demand for internet services going up, revenue from the segment was also increasing gradually. They said that the company was all set to start distribution of Sky Pro lines and USB dongles and smartphones as a package, and provide quality voice and 3G data service through the new network. Even though NT was the first to provide 3G service in South Asia, it has been constantly facing complaints about poor service. Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, deputy managing director of NT, said that 60 percent of the mobile towers had been readied to provide a better 3G service experience in Kathmandu. He added that the new system would come into operation before the Dashain festival in October.

As part of its effort to improve 3G service, NT has been installing core equipment in Nepalgunj, Birtamod and Biratnagar. The equipment is being installed under NT's 10 million GSM lines mega project.

Source: The Kathmandu Post

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