Nepal Telecom to sign interconnection deal with five more countries

Nepal Telecom (NT) is signing a direct interconnectivity agreement with five more international telecom operators, according to the company.

The company is going to sign interconnection agreements with Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and the UAE in the current fiscal year, Nepal Telecom managing director Vishwanath Goel said, adding that it had already inked the agreement for interconnection with telecom service providers of India, Qatar, Malaysia, the USA and Bangladesh.

Nepal Telecom has stated that it direct interconnectivity will make international long distance calls better and cheaper for the Nepali customers of the telecom.

“Call quality and interconnection will also improve significantly after establishing interconnection with those countries,” he said, adding that consumers residing in those countries will also benefit from the scheme.

The countries for interconnection agreement are selected on the basis of number of Nepalis residing there, he informed, adding that Nepali consumers can make the call at low rate compared to the current rate after interconnection agreement with them. Similarly, Nepal Telecom has set a target to establish Point of Presence (PoP) in Hong Kong and the UK in the current fiscal year, according to Goel. “The company has already set up Point of Presence in Singapore during the last fiscal year.”

The company will set up direct interconnectivity with rest of the countries gradually, he added.

After the government opened telecom sector for the private sector the intense competition has led the NT to add more value added services and improve its connectivity apart from other services. The market leader NT is otherwise losing its grip in the market.

What is interconnection?

KATHMANDU: Interconnection may be said to be the sum of all the commercial and technical arrangements which operators and service providers use to connect their equipment, networks and services so as to provide their customers with access to the customers, services and networks of other service providers, according to International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Interconnection refers to “linking with suppliers providing public telecommunications transport

networks or services in order to allow the users of one supplier to communicate with users of another supplier and to access services provided by another supplier, where specific commitments are undertaken.”

What is PoP?

KATHMANDU: A physical location that allows an interexchange carrier to connect to a local exchange company within a Local Access and Transport Area (LATA)is called Point of Presence. At which an inter Local Access and Transport Area carrier establishes itself for the purpose of obtaining LATA access and to which local exchange carrier provides access services. The point of presence (PoP) equipment is usually located in a building that houses switching and /or transmission equipment for the LEC. (Source:THT)

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