NT plans to become No 1 again

KATHMANDU, DEC 06 - 2011

Nepal Telecom has committed to clinch the No 1 spot again. It had lost the top position to Ncell, the first private sector GSM mobile service operator in the country, a few months ago. For this, NT has initiated the process of adding 10 million new subscribers. 

The telephony service provider has already completed the bidding process to purchase equipment for adding 10 million GSM lines and the evaluation process of the bids is on. “We are looking forward to regain the number one spot in the GSM segment,” Amar Nath Singh, the managing director of Nepal Telecom, told a press meet. “We failed to work as per the demands of our customers and we lagged behind to a competitor in the past in the GSM segment, but we will make every effort to clinch the No 1 position again.” 

NT added 500,000 new GSM mobile service subscribers in the first four months of the current fiscal year. It aims to add a total of 1.23 million GSM subscribers this fiscal year—2011/12. Likewise, the company has said that 285,882 subscribers have been provided with the GPRS internet service in the first four months. Amid complaints about inferior quality of telecom services, Singh said the company was working on various techniques to better the quality of mobile phone service in the Kathmandu valley. 

NT has already replaced BTS towers that use the old technology with BTS that has new technologies, consume less energy and has a high capacity. The telephony service provider has continued the process of Radio Frequency Optimisation and has set up a maintenance control centre to make the maintenance work of BTS towers more effective. “The maintenance control centre will help us evaluate the overall activities related with the maintenance work,” Singh said. The NT has also continued fitting batteries with high capacities throughout the country to address problems faced by the general people at the time of power outage. 

The company has also introduced equipment that will help in the payment of bills of the post paid mobile connections, ADSL and PSTN through a recharge card. Currently, the device is being assessed by the NT. “The service is expected to be available within the next two months,” Surendra Prasad Thike, the deputy managing director of NT, said. He added that top-up recharge cards and an electronic PIN-less recharge system was made public as per the company’s plan to bring it into practice within this fiscal year. 

The top-up recharge cards come in the denomination of Rs 10 to Rs 1,000. “This will address the demand for recharge cards with less amount of money,” Thike said. In a bid to manage the traffic and maintain quality during times of huge mass meetings, the NT has brought in three BTS vans. According to the NT, the vehicles are currently being equipped with BTS and other required devices. The vehicles have been bought from ALP Inter Corporation, Thailand. 

NTC has signed an agreement with the company to purchase 13 BTS vans. “Of the13 vans, eight will have less capacity, while five of them will have higher capacities,” Thike said. Once the van is ready, they will be installed at various places as per the requirement. In the first three months of the current fiscal year, the company collected revenue worth Rs 8.25 billion. 

NTC has targeted to collect Rs 31 billion in the current fiscal year. According to Singh, NTC aims to earn a net profit of Rs 12 billion. “Last year, the company successfully generated a net profit or Rs 10.7 billion. The way collections have remained so far, it seems that the figures will be pulled off easily,” Singh said. 

Source: Kantipur