According to the latest study from Ookla, a US-based web site that provides free analysis of internet access performance indicators, although the number of mobile internet users in Nepal has increased, connection speed has decreased.
According to the Speedtest Global Index, Nepal’s mobile broadband speed dropped to 109th place out of 142 nations in May. In May of last year, Nepal was ranked 88th in the world.
In other words, even if clients pay a lot for the service, they’re getting mediocre mobile broadband speeds.
A Speedtest report shows that Nepal’s average download speed in May rose to 16.45Mbps, an increase from 15.39Mbps in May of last year, but it is still well behind the global average.
The average global mobile broadband download and upload speeds in March were 29.96 Mbps and 8.70 Mbps, respectively.
In May, upload speeds were 10.35 Mbps, down from last year’s 10.85 Mbps.
Maldives had the fastest internet in South Asia. Maldives came in at number 38, followed by Pakistan at number 107.
India ranked 120th spot, followed by Sri Lanka at 123, Bangladesh at 129, and Afghanistan at 141 position.
Because of a variety of unnoticed levies, internet service has become more expensive.
Nepal’s internet connections are some of the most expensive because of a lack of implementation of the internet infrastructure sharing plan.
As Nepal Telecom spokeswoman Shobhan Adhikari explained, infrastructure and pricing are critical to delivering high-quality service.
“The infrastructure expansion has increased 4G speed. Base transceiver stations need to be added and the radio network optimised as a result of the rise in service consumers,” Adhikari said.
In terms of affordability, the cost of 4G has decreased by more than 35% since its inception in 2017.”
The United Arab Emirates placed first in mobile broadband, with Norway and Qatar in second and third place, respectively.
There are 36.99 million people in Nepal who have internet access, according to a report by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority on Management and Information Systems(MIS Report). 29.33 million of them use mobile internet, while 7.26 million rely on a fixed line to access the internet.
Mobile broadband accounts for 97.42 percent and fixed broadband accounts for 28.90 percent of all internet subscriptions in the country.
After this fiscal year ends in mid-July 2022, Nepal Telecom plans to begin commercial deployment of 5G technology.
However, a change in government has delayed Nepal Telecom’s intention to begin testing in mid-July 2021, according to officials.
The first 4G networks were installed in Nepal in January of 2017.
In fixed broadband, Nepal ranked 82nd in March with a download speed of 41.29 Mbps and an upload speed of 38.67 Mbps. The download speed was 22.17 Mbps and the upload speed was 19.20 Mbps in May of 2021, respectively.
India ranks 72nd in the world in terms of fixed broadband speed among South Asian countries. In terms of fixed broadband, Nepal is ahead of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, all of which are in the bottom half of the rankings.
The average global fixed broadband download and upload speeds were 62.52 Mbps and 26.98 Mbps, respectively.
In terms of fixed broadband, Singapore came out on top, followed by Chile and Thailand.
“Connectivity in the Least Developed Countries Status Report” estimates that 5 out of every 100 Nepalis have access to fixed broadband.
