Telecom penetration reaches 66pc
KATHMANDU, NOV 07 -
Telecom service penetration rate has reached 66 percent as of the first month (mid-July to mid-Aug) of the current fiscal year. The total number of telecom subscribers in Nepal has now increased to 17.60 million, according to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority’s (NTA) latest statistics.
Of the total users, 15.62 million users are subscribed to mobile services being provided by two big operators—Nepal Telecom and Ncell. With this, cell phone service has reached to 58.7 percent of the estimated population of 26.62 million, according to NTA.
Fixed line and satellite/limited mobility services are available to 3.15 percent and 4.48 percent, respectively, of the Nepal’s population.
Although the number of total telecom subscribers has increased, telecom operators added less number of new subscribers in the first month of this fiscal year compared to a year ago. A total of 320,000 individuals subscribed to telecom services in the review period, against 350,000 new users in the same period last year, according to NTA.
For the whole last fiscal year, telecom operators had added more than 4 million new subscriptions, with a majority being mobile users.
Alongside the voice service, internet penetration rate has also increased to 19.32 percent, with growing subscription to mobile GPRS service. There are 4.7 million users who have subscribed to GPRS mobile internet. “Voice service is still in high demand in rural areas with urban areas nearing saturation levels,” said Ananda Raj Khanal, director at NTA, adding the demand for internet service would increase further in coming days due to the convergence of voice and data services.
As of mid-Aug, the country’s total internet users’ base stands at 5.1 million. In the wake of increased demand, Nepal Telecom is preparing to launch an internet service based on WiMax and IP-CDMA within this December. The state-owned telecom company has also included 3G and 4G lines in its 10 million mobile lines project keeping in mind the future demand.
Currently, Nepal Telecom has 2.16 million users in its GPRS, dial-up, ADSL and CDMA 1X internet services. Ncell’s GPRS service is used by 2.82 million people. Similarly, United Telecom Limited (UTL) and other internet service providers have 78,388 and 74,140 subscribers, respectively.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
