NTA monitoring voice service in districts hit hard by earthquake

KATHMANDU:

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has started monitoring voice service in districts that were hit the hardest by the devastating earthquake of April 25. So far, the authority has checked the services in Kathmandu, Dhading and Nuwakot.

Based on the inspection visits, telecom companies have restored 90 per cent of their networks, according to NTA. The services in Kathmandu were found to be comparatively better than in Dhading and Nuwakot. However, there was no mobile signal of either Nepal Telecom (NT) or Ncell in Kakani area of Nuwakot.

“The signal of mobile phone service of both the companies in Prithivi Highway (Dhading) is only so-so,” said Achyuta Nanda Mishra, assistant spokesperson for NTA. He added that in Dhading Besi, Ncell’s signal was comparatively weak as the locals have been barring the company from erecting its tower there since a long time.

After each inspection visit, NTA has been instructing the telecom companies to improve on their weaknesses. More NT towers have become operational as the government has been providing direct electricity feeder lines in many places. But, Ncell does not have this facility and it has to rely on back-up and diesel generators to keep its towers active, according to NTA officials.

NTA also plans to monitor services of telecom companies in other hardest hit districts, including Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha and Rasuwa. The government has declared Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Sindhupalchowk, Dhading, Dolakha, Gorkha, Makawanpur, Kavre, Ramechhap, Lamjung, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Solukhumbu and Okhaldhunga as most affected districts.

“As soon as we finish checking the condition of voice services, we will start monitoring the data service being provided by internet service providers (ISPs),” informed Mishra.

Due to the earthquake damaging their networks, many ISPs had failed to provide service to their customers for several days after the earthquake.

Though the devastating earthquake caused huge damage to the country, as per NTA officials, the disaster’s impact on telecommunication service was less than expected.

Mishra said that studies had concluded that a majority of mobile towers were vulnerable. However, there was no major damage in telecommunication infrastructure and networks from the April 25 earthquake.

As per NTA, there were some reports on breaks of fibre links, which are being repaired to resume normal services. In a bid to help improve services and provide effective service during the time of rescue operation and relief distribution, NTA had also provided 4MHz frequency each to NT and Ncell free of charge for an interim period in 900MHz band.

Even as it has already been two weeks since the disaster, telecom companies are yet to fully restore their networks as they have been facing problems of electricity and optical fibre breaks.

Source: THT