Monthly Archives

October 2010

Nepal Telecom brings discount offers for this festive season

by NewsTeam Oct 5, 2010

written by NewsTeam

Nepal Telecom (NT) has introduced discount offers in its services on the occasion of Dashain festival. The state owned telecom giant is slashing tariff by as much as 50 percent in various services.

The discount offer which will be effective from Oct. 8 to Nov. 13, includes discount in local call charges, STD calls, SMS and GRPS service. NT is also giving away 10 percent bonus on recharge cards of Rs. 100 and Rs. 200. The bonus on recharge offer will be effective from Oct. 14 for five days, according to a press release issued by the NT.

For making local and STD calls from land lines, it will cost from Rs. 1 to Rs. 1.50 depending upon the call distance during the festive season. Normally, the call rates range from Rs. 1.50 to Rs. 3 per minute. Similarly, cost for making calls from the post-paid GSM and CDMA mobile has been cut down to Rs. 1 per minute. And, cost for calls from post-paid GSM and CDMA has been slashed to Rs. 1.50 per minute. Charge for local and international SMS service has also been slashed by 50 percent per message.

On the occasion of the festival, NT has also decided not to take charge for GRPS activation, family and friend activation, call waiting activation, monthly multiparty conference and incoming while in domestic roaming.

Meanwhile, Ncell is preparing to introduce festival offer for its subscribers within a week. It has already slashed the international long distance call rates for 22 counties and introduced the broadband internet service with focus in Dashain.

“We have been offering gifts to our new subscribers buying handsets and SIM cards in Gandaki and Narayani Regions,” said Sanju Koirala, corporate communication manager of the Ncell. “There is one more special offer to be launched very soon on the occasion of Dashain.”

Oct 5, 2010 0 comment

NEWS

GSM mobile subscribers increase by 92% in Nepal

by NewsTeam Oct 4, 2010

written by NewsTeam

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.

Oct 4, 2010 0 comment

NEWS PRODUCT WATCH

Azzabko Ice Cream launched in Nepali market

by NewsTeam Oct 4, 2010

written by NewsTeam

National Ice Cream Industries, on Sunday launched Azzabko Ice Cream in the market. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal launched the ice cream amid a program. A press statement of the company has stated that the newly launched ice cream was available in over a dozen flavors in more than 300 retail outlets in the valley itself.

According to the company a wide range of ice creams flavors such as Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate, Butterscotch, Pistachio, Rum Raisin, Mango, Pineapple, 21 Love, Fruity Nutty, Chocolate Chips, Coffee Mocha and Mint were available in the market. Apart from these Chocobar and four other flavors-Rasilo Orange, Mazzako Mango, Gazabko Lemon and Chiso Cola are also available in the market, stated the company.

Azzabko ice creams are available with the packaging of 100 ml, 500 ml, 1000 ml and 4 ltrs with its price ranging from Rs 30 (for a 100 ml pack) at the lowest to Rs 1742 (for a 4 ltrs pack) at highest.

The company has claimed that it will produce 2000 ltrs of ice cream every day in Kathmandu itself. Likewise, it has aimed to penetrate one third of the local ice cream bazaar at the initial stage and has targeted to establish it as a market leader within three years of its operation.

Besides Kathmandu, the company has also planned to distribute its ice creams through its dealers in the major cities. The company has claimed that it has invested Rs 60 million for the establishment of the ice cream company.

Oct 4, 2010 0 comment

NEWS

Tourists arrival up 20.6 % in September

by NewsTeam Oct 2, 2010

written by NewsTeam

Tourist arrivals in September 2010 jumped by 20.6 percent to 41,331 from 34,281 during the same month last year.

The figures released by the Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) said that arrivals from the South Asian region witnessed a robust growth of 49.1 percent with Bangladesh up 79.5 percent, India up 40.9 percent and Pakistan up 43.9 percent.

However, arrivals from Sri Lanka have declined by 10.6 percent. A sustained growth of 22.8 percent has been observed in arrivals from the South Asian region during the first nine months of 2010, in comparison to the same period last year.

Asia (other than the South Asian region) has continued to maintain an upward trend with a double-digit growth of 15.2 percent in September 2010.

China, emerging as the major tourist generating market for Nepal, has recorded a growth of 19.7 percent. Similarly, visitor arrivals from Malaysia (up 68.5 percent), South Korea (up 52.1 percent), Singapore (up 3.7 percent) and Thailand (up 8.9 percent) have also registered growth. However, arrivals from Japan declined by 7.7 percent compared to the same month last year.

Regarding the long-haul markets, Europe registered an overall positive growth of 9.4 percent with arrivals from Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark up by 33 percent, 5.1 percent, 8.4 percent, 8.2 percent and 45.1 percent respectively.

The markets that could not show positive results in September 2010 were the UK (-5.6 percent), Norway (-23.9 percent) Switzerland (-4.6 percent) and Czech Republic (-32.9 percent).

However, a sustained growth of 16.9 percent has been observed in arrivals from the European region during the first nine months of 2010 in comparison to the same period last year.

The figures show an increasing trend in visitor arrivals from New Zealand with a growth of 38.5 percent while Australia posted a negative growth of 0.2 percent. Likewise, the US and Canada have registered growths of 7.4 percent and 9.6 percent respectively.

A total of 36,921 foreign tourists departed from TIA in September 2010. The number of Nepali arrivals stood at 55,936 while 58,190 Nepalis departed from TIA.

Month	Arrivals 2009	Arrivals (2010)	Change (%)
Jan	21,944	26,071	18.8
Feb	25,181	33,492	33
Mar	33,005	44,431	34.61
Apr	37,819	38, 694	2.31
May	25,129	26,634	5.98
June	23,222	26,997	16.3
July	23,266	29,338	26.09
Aug	27,676	34,415	24.3
Sept	34,281	41,331	20.6

Oct 2, 2010 0 comment

PRODUCT WATCH

Haicom GPS products launched in Nepal

by NewsTeam Oct 2, 2010

written by NewsTeam

Amala International Inc, the sole distributor for Haicom GPS of Taiwan, has introduced GPS devices and services of the highest international quality and standards in the market.

“It has passed the highest standard and has got international certification of FCC, CE, ISO 900-2001, ROHS, and WEEE. These devices have also been type approved by Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) for use here in Nepal,” said the company.

Amala International is now servicing the market with these Haicom GPS products keeping in mind the huge potential in vehicle management and logistic solution for offices with many vehicles and anyone with a vehicle or a motorcycle.

“Our devices can also be carried by anyone for personal use,” it said, adding that the devices can also be used for home, shop, security and remotely-controlled machines. It has brought two GPS tracking devices — HI-602 and HI-603.

The Hi-602 is a tracking device for use in motorcycle and for personal use and the HI-603 is the vehicle tracker.

The main purpose of these devices is for the safety and monitoring of the movement of the vehicle. It has other vast application like for GIS mapping, remotely controlling (turning on and off) of machine and home, shop security. With the installation of Haicom GPS tracking device, the movement of the vehicles and personnel can be monitored in real time live through the Internet from any part of the world.

This way efficiency of the vehicles will increase, resulting in revenue saved. The user can see the indefinite history of the movement of the vehicle and then can export it as an excel file for record. “It means no need of the current log book that the drivers maintain,” according to Amala International. “One can see where the vehicle has been in the past.”

When people buy a new vehicle, the first thing that they do for security is install those devices (paying anywhere from Rs 4,000 to 20,000). But what they do is nothing compared to the new system as it features SOS. “In case of real emergency like kidnapping and other events where your mobile phone becomes useless, the user can just press a button to ask for rescue help to three predefined numbers installed in the system,” the company said.

Once the SOS button is pressed, a call and sms will be sent to these three numbers with an SOS message and giving the latitude and longitude of the place also.

Immobilisation is another feature whereby the user can make the vehicle stop anytime required. Similarly, it has shock-sensor that will automatically call and send message to the three numbers in case of accident. It has Geo-fencing that allows creating restriction boundary where the vehicle should not enter or wall from which the vehicle should not exit.

Similarly bugging can help hear conversation in the vehicle whereas anti-theft device will call and send message if the system line or power is tampered with.

It also has speed-alert, real-time live tracking, stolen bike problem solver. The vehicle tracker is priced at Rs 16,500 and the motorcycle tracker at Rs 14,500.

Oct 2, 2010 0 comment

BUSINESS

Civil Mall opens at Sundhara

by NewsTeam Oct 1, 2010

written by NewsTeam

Adding to the increasing number of malls in Kathmandu, Civil Mall at Sundhara is all set to spring into operation from Oct. 3 under the corporate slogan “There is something for everyone”.

“We will start full-fledged operation within a month,” said Ichchha Raj Tamang, chairman of the Civil Group during the soft launch of the mall. “We are offering a complete mall solution at par with international standards where customers will get full options on refreshment and entertainment along with shopping all under the same roof.”

The mall is claimed to be the largest in the country with a capacity of 175 stores on five floors. According to a press release issued by the company, there will be all sorts of stores—from clothing to home appliances to electronic appliances to mobiles. QFX Cinemas, a 1,000-seat premium multiplex cinema flagship of Quest Entertainment designed by Vastukarti India, one of the best designers in India, is a major attraction of the mall, the statement added.

According to Tamang, 75 percent of the stores have already been booked and the front half of the floor has been reserved for 100 small shops designated under kiosks. Some of the leading international clothing brands like Raymond, Peter England, Reebok, Nike and Adidas will have their stores at the mall along with the outlets of global consumer electronics giants like Nokia, LG and Sony.

With a four-track bowling alley, the mall offers a complete recreational solution for shoppers. Another prominent feature of the mall, according to the developers, is a large indoor recreational area for children between the ages of three and 14 years. The recreational section is divided into three segments: virtual games, mental development games and physical exercises. The equipment fitted in the playground area is aimed at aiding in the overall growth of children, which is also the largest indoor kids play area in the country, according to the press statement.

The Central Food Court spread over 12,000 sq ft with 12 kitchens serving various cuisines is another attraction of the mall. The food court has a seating capacity for 500 people. To ensure convenient access to customers in the nine-storey building, the mall has 14 escalators (two on each floor), two capsule lifts, two elevators and three staircases. And customers need not worry about parking while visiting the mall since it has two levels of basement designed for vehicle parking with a capacity of 150 four-wheelers and 100 two-wheelers.(Source:ekantipur)

Oct 1, 2010 0 comment

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