Nepal Telecom revenue from data service soars 41 percent

KATHMANDU, APR 12, 2012

Customers of Nepal Telecom ( NT ) have been spending Rs 42 per month on average for internet service. According to the state-owned telecom giant’s financial report for fiscal 2011-12, its 2.07 million subscribers paid Rs 1.05 billion for use of its data service.  A growing trend of surfing the internet using GPRS on mobile handsets and an increased number of ADSL subscribers have helped to boost NT ’s revenue from the data segment. Compared to the fiscal year 2010-11, its income from the data segment in the current fiscal year soared 41 percent.

During the last fiscal year, the company earned a total of Rs 32.80 billion from its various services. Its income from ADSL and GPRS services jumped 43.18 percent and 129.89 percent respectively. However, revenue from its CDMA and dial-up services recorded a double-digit plunge.

NT officials said the drop in income from dial-up service was to be expected as the technology is a decade old and new technology-based services and packages have become available. As for the decline of CDMA internet, officials said it was an impact of ADSL reaching all the districts in the country.

Meanwhile, the company has set a target to focus on expansion of broadband service based on GSM and CDMA technology from this fiscal year, with a view to making internet the main revenue source.

This year, it has launched WiMax wireless broadband service and also expanded CDMA technology-based EVDO data service. Currently, it provides six types of internet services—WiMax, ADSL, dial-up, CDMA wireless internet and GSM mobile internet (GPRS and 3G internet).

NT said that its revenue from data service would continue to increase due to the launching of WiMax service and Sky Pro-service which provides high speed internet access besides voice service. By 2015, the company aims to launch 4G service besides expanding 3G service which is currently limited to the Kathmandu valley and a few other cities.

Source: The Kathmandu Post

Nepal Telecom upgrading CDMA to IP-based network

KATHMANDU, DEC 14 - 2012

Nepal Telecom is upgrading its CDMA network to an IP-based network with major focus on improving voice service and taking wireless mobile broadband internet to all parts of the country.

The company on Thursday said data service with speeds up to 3.1 mbps based on the new network would be available across the country within the next year.

Migration from CDMA to IP-based infrastructure will enable NT to provide Evolution Data Optimised (EVDO), also known as third generation (3G) CDMA, service in all parts of the country, regardless of the terrain. Currently, NT is providing the EVDO service in limited areas of the Kathmandu valley, Pokhara, Lumbini, Birjung and Hetuada.

“It will take around a year to expand the service to all parts of the country,” said Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, director of the Wireless Service Directorate at NT. He said the company would be able to start providing EVDO service from mid-January, covering the whole Kathmandu and Pokhara valleys and other cities like Birantnagar in the East, Dhangadi and Nepalgunj in the West and other parts of the country.

Existing users can avail voice service from normal CDMA handsets even after the network upgradation. As for the data service, subscribers will have to buy new handsets supporting EVDO that normally cost Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.

NT, in its existing CDMA network, has over 1 million subscribers, including mobile and fixed lines. Services like CDMA, Sky Phone, C-Phone and EVDO data are being provided by the company under the CDMA technology.

According to NT spokesperson Guna Kesari Pradhan, CDMA subscribers might face some problems in voice and data service due to the ongoing system upgradation.

In such a case, she said users have to restart their handsets. The system upgradation is expected to take around one month.

CDMA network upgradation is also part of NT’s ongoing project of 2 million IP CDMA lines. In the current fiscal year, the company has targeted to distribute more than 700,000 CDMA lines.

In August 2011, NT had signed an agreement with Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies at $30 million for the implementation the IP CDMA project in two phases.

Source: The Kathmandu Post