NT, Ncell race to expand 3G service

KATHMANDU, DEC 31 -

The big two in the telecom business Nepal Telecom ( NT ) and Ncell are engaged in a keen race to expand third generation (3G) mobile data coverage across the country. State-owned NT has been fervently working to install 4.6 million 3G service lines while private sector Ncell is focused on spreading its services beyond urban areas.

The 3G data service is a high speed mobile internet service with speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps. Increased demand for high speed mobile connectivity has fuelled the expansion plans of these two companies holding 3G service licences.

According to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority ( NT A), they are now concentrating on high speed wireless mobile data in a change from their earlier competition to attract customers to their basic voice service.  

Thanks to the competition between the two, mobile data service tariffs have dropped significantly. NT A officials said that operators were offering incentive packages allowing customers to use 3G data service at less than Rs 0.25 per MB. Till two years ago, NT was charging Rs 2.5 per 100 KB. “Prices for mobile data services like 3G and Sky Pro will decline further based on the market condition and new areas to be covered,” said Guna Keshari Pradhan, spokesperson of NT . She added that they were preparing to provide high speed 3G data service nationwide under the 10 million mobile lines project.

NT ’s 3G service is presently available in the Kathmandu valley, Banepa, Lumbini and Pokhara. Recently, the service was launched in Baglung in Dhaulagiri zone.

As part of its plan to expand network and capacity, NT has installed additional equipment on 229 mobiles towers in the valley. The project has a total capacity of 4.6 million 3G lines, said NT .

According to the NT A, the two companies had 6.9 million subscribers using GPRS, EDGE and 3G as of mid-October. NT was the first company to provide 3G service in South Asia in 2007. However, it was only two years ago that the number of 3G customers started swelling due to falling tariffs and greater use of smartphones.

Ncell , which officially launched the service in 2010, has spread its network to more than 20 cities nationwide and is working to expand it. “Since our 3G service covers almost all the major urban areas, we are now focusing on service expansion in semi-urban and other areas,” said Milan Sharma, corporate communication expert of Ncell .

He added that the company would pursue aggressive expansion of its 3G service besides increasing the connection speed in 2014.

NT said that it had started providing data service with speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps.

Both the companies have been asking for spectrum to operate 4G service for a long time, but the government has not reached any decision on spectrum allocation.

(Source: The Kathmandu Post)