Nearly 80pc rural households have mobile phones

KATHMANDU:

Thanks to expansion in the service network of telecom companies, nearly 80 per cent of rural households now have access to mobile phone facilities.

The annual household survey (AHS) 2012-13, conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and released on Sunday, reveal that 79.5 per cent of rural household are using the mobile phone service, which until few years ago, was tagged as luxury service limited to the elite class.

The survey further shows that there is only 14.1 per cent point difference between urban and rural households having mobile phone facility.

In total, the mobile phone has reached 82.1 per cent households in the country, while the access to this service in the urban households stands at 93.6 per cent. However, compared to wireless mobile, access to wire line telephone is very low, both in the urban and rural parts of the country.

According to the AHS, 20.3 per cent households in urban and 3.6 per cent in rural areas have access to telephone service. Similarly, e-mail/internet service has reached 16.1 per cent of the households in urban area, while the rate is 3.1 per cent in rural settings.

The households having access to telephone and e-mail/internet services in the country are at 6.7 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively.

The AHS, first of its kind, is based on study of altogether 8,400 rural and 806 urban wards to assess the situation of consumption of different services, among others.

Internet/e-mail service was first launched in the country during the mid-1990s. Similarly, mobile phone service had started in 1999.

Ananda Raj Khanal, officiating chief of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) — the telecom regulator — said that the survey highlights how mobile service has become an integral part of daily life in the country. “Advent of cheaper technology, free incoming calls and provision of pre-paid mobile services are the reasons for rural customers warming up to mobiles,” he added.

Entry of private telecom companies through policy intervention in telecom sector and licence condition put to small operators like Smart Telecom, Nepal Satellite Telecom and STM Telecom Sanchar to expand service in rural areas were instrumental in increasing the mobile service network. NTA officials said that the next big development would be in data service owing to huge demand in broadband connections.

A World Bank study has concluded that a 10 per cent growth in broadband penetration rate would help achieve 1.38 percentage point growth in the GDP. Currently, the country’s rate of broadband penetration is below 10 per cent. Khanal said that there is need of broadband infrastructure like optical fibre to expand high speed data service.

The NTA data shows that by mid-March this year, mobile phone service penetration rate touched 77.92 per cent and fixed line — generally known as landline — is limited to 3.12 per cent of total population of 26.49 million. Similarly, the penetration of data, which is growing at a fast pace, has crossed 30 per cent.

Survey statistics

• 79.5pc of rural household using mobile phone service

• Access to mobile service in urban households stand at 93.6 pc

• In total, mobile phone has reached 82.1pc households in the country

• Landline services lagging, limited to 3.12 pc of total population

Source: Annual Household Survey 2012-13, Central Bureau of Statistics

Source: THT