Telephone penetration climbs to 97.65 percent

KATHMANDU, Feb 16 :

Telephone penetration in Nepal has reached 97.65 percent.

According to the latest Management Information system (MIS) report of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), 97.65 percent of 26.49 million people in the country have access to telephone service.

The report includes data of up to mid-December, 2014. Telephone penetration increased by 12.88 percentage points in the one-year period. It stood at 84.77 percent in mid-December, 2013.

Similarly, mobile phone penetration increased from 74.97 percent of mid-December, 2013 to 89 percent in mid-December, 2014. Likewise, Internet penetration stood at 38.09 percent in mid-December, 2014, registering a rise of 9.46 percentage point compared to mid-December, 2013.

Meanwhile, Ncell´s share in both voice and data fell in the year-long period ending mid-December, 2014. According to the report, Ncell´s share in voice market dropped from 48 percent to 47 percent, while the operator´s share in data dropped to 39.81 percent from 47 percent recorded in mid-December, 2013.

Nepal Telecom (NT) cashed in on Ncell´s loss in voice and data market. The state-owned telecom operator´s share in voice and data increased from 44 percent to 45 percent and 50 percent to 57.78 percent, respectively.

Similarly, market share of United Telecom Limited (UTL) in voice market dropped from 3 percent to 2 percent in the review period. It´s share in data to 0.56 percent from 2 percent.
Similarly, market share of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) dropped to 0.99 percent from 1 percent in the review period.

According to the report, Ncell has the largest subscriber base of 12.08 million, followed by NT´s 11.71 million and UTL´s 508,841.

At present, there are three operators providing basic telecommunications service and two companies providing GSM cellular mobile service. Similarly, there are 10 network service providers, 33 VSAT users, 42 ISPs and 83 companies providing limited mobility service.

Source: Republica