Nepal Telecom to provide SIM cards free of cost to Nepali citizens returning home from abroad

Nepal Telecom is to provide SIM cards free of cost to the Nepali citizens returning home from abroad in the aftermath of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Telecom will distribute the cost-free SIM cards to the foreign-returnees by establishing its booth at 20 various transit points for those returning home from India and at the quarantine venue and holding centres that the government is going to set up for accommodating the foreign-returnees coming by air route, Nepal Telecom stated in a press release.

Nepal Telecom's spokesman Rajesh Joshi said the state-owned telecom company has managed 100 thousand such SIM cards for now. One will have to produce a copy of citizenship certificate, passport, driving license, travel document or any other identity document for obtaining the SIM card.

According to Joshi, the free SIM cards can also be provided to the foreign-returnee Nepalis on the basis of their relatives' identification documents in case they are unable to produce their own documents. Nepal Telecom is also providing free Wi-Fi service at the eight holding centres the government has set up in the Kathmandu Valley for accommodating the foreign-returnee Nepalis entering via the Tribhuvan International Airport.