NT plans big for enhancing service
KATHMANDU, SEP 28 -
Nepal Telecom ( NT ) is gearing up to improve its GSM mobile’s quality of service (QoS) by hiring Chinese vendor ZTE Corporation. The state-owned company plans to hire the Chinese vendor for a maximum six-month period to improve the mobile network.
The NT management and board members have already held several rounds of rigorous talks with ZTE on the service quality improvement plan. Around 80 percent of the existing network of NT is covered by ZTE equipment.
In his recent visit to Kantipur Publications, Minister for Information and Communications Raj Kishor Yadav too had said a major plan was being devised to bring a ‘revolutionary change’ in NT service. He had said mobile towers’ spare parts would be replaced hiring a consultant.
In a bid to seek assistance from ZTE, NT board members held four rounds of talks with ZTE representatives. A sub-committee formed under the coordination of Baikuntha Aryal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance, is studying the QoS improvement issue to prepare a study and recommend ways to improve service quality.
“We will very soon take a decision on quality improvement of NT , involving ZTE,” said Surya Prasad Silwal, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, who is also the chairman of NT board. “Our decision will be based on the suggestion of the sub-committee.”
The sub-committee was mandated to submit a report to the NT board on Wednesday. “Our report is almost final and it will be submitted to the board as soon as we reach a conclusion with ZTE,” said Aryal, who is also the member of the NT board.
Comparatively poor QoS has been one of the major headaches for NT . A study conducted by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority ( NT A) earlier this year showed NT ’s service quality was below the criteria set by International Telecommunications Union. A telecom service is considered good if the operator’s call quality rate is 90 percent or above, according ITU.
However, the NT A study showed call quality rate of NT ’s GSM mobile below 90 percent. “We expect a huge change in our mobile service quality after the implementation of this plan,” said Guna Kesari Shrestha, spokesperson for NT .
She added with NT ’s own technical experts doing needful maintenance in mobile towers, the service quality has improved comparatively off late.
Free STD activation
KATHMANDU: NT on Thursday started providing STD service to all PSTN or normal landline phones. With this, landline phone users will be able to make call to any PSTN line or fixed CDMA phone installed in other zones at Rs 1 per minute without needing to activate STD service. Currently, there are around 650,000 PSTN subscribers. “Normal landline phones will start getting STD facility gradually starting from Thursday depending on our network exchange,” said Shrestha. “All landlines across the country will get STD facility within a week.”
Source: The Kathmandu Post
