The subscription to GSM mobiles, a major communication service, increased heavily in the first month of the current fiscal year. With increased popularity and lowering prices of the service and device, the subscription rate has increased by a whopping 92 percent compared to that in the same period last year.
According to statistics of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority, the regulatory body of the telecom sector, the subscription to the GSM service during the first month (Mid-July to mid-Aug) of the current fiscal increased by 304,290 whereas in the same period last year a total of 158,467 GSM users subscribed to the service.
Till the end of the last fiscal year (Mid-July 2010), there were 6.9 million GSM mobile service subscribers including 3.96 million of the state-owned Nepal Telecom and 2.94 million of the first private sector GSM mobile operator — Spice Nepal.
The subscriber base of the telecom service has also increased to 9.33 million as of mid-Aug. 2010. Of this, 7.2 million are GSM mobile users with a penetration rate of 28.64 percent. Supported heavily by GSM penetration, now telecom access has reached 33.34 percent of the estimated total 28 million population of the country.
According to an official at the authority, subscribers to GSM are increasing rapidly as a result of cutthroat competition between Nepal Telecom and Spice Nepal to offer services at cheaper price. “Though we do not know how safe it is to buy low cost devices having no type approval certification, those handsets have made the service available to a huge group of people having low income and have also increased tele-density,” the official added.
During the first month of the current fiscal year, Nepal Telecom added 58,4983 users to its GSM network whereas its competitor Spice Nepal added 245,797 subscribers. As of mid-July 2009, Spice Nepal had 1.87 million subscribers and Nepal Telecom three million subscribers.
The growth rate of the telecom service subscription has clearly showed that users of the telecom service in Nepal will soon touch the 10 million-mark. Spice Nepal had intensified its activities on adding subscribers especially after the re-branding of its service from Mero Mobile to Ncell in March. Lately, it has been offering cheaper seats with SIM cards and has also introduced the world famous BlackBerry Solution in Nepal.
Nepal Telecom has also come up with a plan to add 2.21 million subscribers including 1.8 in the GSM mobile service within the current fiscal year. It is preparing to call global tender for building capacity for additional 5 million GSM mobile lines.
The GSM expansion started in 1999 when mobile service was introduced in the country. The telecom service expansion accelerated with the entry of private players like United Telecom and Spice Nepal.
Latest figures with all telecom companies in the country show that the number of subscribers crossed the magical figure of 10 million by mid-November. With the subscriber base crossing the 10 million mark, over 35 percent of the population ...
Subscribing to mobile phone services used to be a far-fetched dream for most Nepali till five years back because of high charges and expensive devices. Now, 30 out of 100 Nepalis are availing the service, thanks to the technology getting chea ...
The number of telephone users in the country rose to 9.34 million on 14 August this year, up from 8.93 million a month ago, according to figures from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA). The mobile operators ended the period with ...
Telecom services in the country have reached to 46 out of every 100 people. With fierce competition among telecom companies, telecom penetration has touched 46.05 percent as of last fiscal year. With two telecom majors—Nepal Telecom (NT) a ...
The number of mobile phone users in the country has increased significantly in the last five years. The two major players in the market-Nepal Telecom (NT) and Spice Nepal-have seen a surge of customers and in the mean time the competition too ...
Nepal has 9.63 million telephony users till September 14, up from 9.34 million telephony users at August 14, according to figures from Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA). The mobile operators had 8.30 million subscribers by September ...
One in two Nepalis now has access to basic telecom services including mobile service. According to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), tele-density has reached more than 50 percent from 1.47 percent a decade ago. The latest stati ...
The number of internet subscribers has swelled by 57 percent in the one-year period from mid-Aug 2011 to mid-Aug 2012, pushing the country’s internet penetration rate up to 19.32 percent. The growth is catalysed by increased demand for servic ...
A recent study of consumption trends in the Kathmandu Valley—the major telecom market—has shown that over 83 percent of mobile subscribers are not satisfied with the service. The report has urged the government to start monitoring the telecom ...
Nepal Telecom (NT) is planning to introduce a new scheme “service bundle” to promote its 3G service by tying up with distributors of 3G mobile sets. The scheme will enable customers to get 3G handsets and SIM cards directly from the vendor ...
Telecom service subscriber growth rate has declined at a time when the government is working out to bring new mobile service providers. New subscriber growth rate has declined by 11.87 percent during one year period (Jan 2012 to Mid-Jan 2013) ...
The internet penetration rate in the country has nearly doubled to 15.75 percent in the last one year. The growth is supported mainly by the increased number of subscribers of the general packet radio service (GPRS) mobile internet and ADSL d ...
State-owned telecom giant Nepal Telecom has decided to continue the Dashain and Tihar festival discounts as a prelude to tariff cuts for its mobile and landline telecommunication services. The company’s board settled on extending the festi ...
With 1.4 million subscribers, Ncell remained number one telecom service provider in terms of data/internet services subscribers, according to a report by Nepal Telecommunications Authority. “Its nearest competitor Nepal Telecom (NT) has 9,49, ...
Nepal is witnessing an explosion of international internet bandwidth. Capacity on Internet links connecting to the world have increased extensively lately. Most of the telecom service providers have taken international bandwidth from In ...
Tablet PC Prices in Nepal
Mobile Phone Prices in Nepal
LCD LED TV Prices in Nepal
Laptops Prices in Nepal
Bikes Prices in Nepal
New Loadshedding Timetable
List of Commercial Banks in Nepal