Kathmandu. Nepal Telecom is going to shut down its 2G service at 1800 MHz. At a program organized on the occasion of its 21st anniversary on Tuesday, the company’s Managing Director Sangeeta Pahadi said that it plans to shut down its 2G service at that MHz this year.
She said that with this decision, the company aims to invest more in new technology and provide quality service to customers.According to Managing Director Pahadi, the company is currently expanding its 4G service nationwide. So far, 4G service has reached 744 local levels in 77 districts. Out of 4697 locations in operation for network expansion, 4G service is operational in 4324 locations.Stating that the infrastructure preparation work for 333 eNodeBs has progressed to expand the service further in the coming days, she informed that the preparation of the bid for the acquisition of 1200 additional eNodeB equipment is in the final stage.
Pahadi said that 4G service currently accounts for more than 90 percent of the total mobile data consumption. In addition, the number of customers using the 4G VoLTE service has exceeded 5.8 million.She said that the work of completing a study with a suitable business strategy for operating the 5G service and submitting a report has reached the final stage and that there is a plan to introduce 5G technology in the future as per the government’s instructions.
She informed that the number of Nepal Telecom’s customers for voice services has reached more than 21.242 million by the end of Mangsir 2081. Of which, GSM mobile service customers are 27.74 million, PSTN service customers are 87 thousand, and FTTH voice service customers are 380 thousand. According to the data for Mangsir 2081, Nepal Telecom’s market share for voice services is 50.44 percent.Similarly, the company’s internet and data services have reached more than 21 million customers. Of which, GSM mobile data service users are 27 million and FTTH data service users are 300 thousand.
The company has stated that it has reached about 16.4 million customers for GSM 4G services so far and is in the process of continuous expansion.The company has accelerated its plan to expand Fiber to the Home (FTTH) services in the current fiscal year with the aim of providing phone, internet and television services through a single fiber. So far, this FTTH service has reached 77 districts.
Managing Director Pahadi said that the work of converting the copper-based network to FTTH technology is in the final stage and Karnali Province will be declared a copper network free province from today.During the period up to the middle of the current fiscal year, a network with a distribution capacity of about 2.1 million has been prepared in 463 places in the country. In terms of service distribution, the company stated that so far 380 thousand voice, 330 thousand data and 58 thousand IPTV customers have been connected to the FTTH network.
According to Pahadi, the company is taking the initiative to provide broadband internet connectivity through 4G technology to 753 local levels and as many as possible to all 6,743 wards across the country. The company has established all the key performance indicators (KPIs) set by the regulatory body to ensure the quality of various wireless and wireline services provided by the company.
Pahadi informed that in accordance with the program to connect the surrounding districts, rural municipalities and wards to the internet network based on the Mid-Hill Highway under the Rural Development Telecommunications Fund, 1450 km of laying work has been completed in Koshi Province, Madhesh Province and Bagmati Province. Similarly, the target is to expand the optical fiber network to 1,748 km under Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces, of which a total of 993 km or 56.8 percent has been completed so far, she claims.
The company is confident that this infrastructure will fulfill the vision of building an information highway and lay the necessary foundation for building a Digital Nepal Framework in line with the concept of the Government of Nepal. She also said that the sharing of optical fiber networks connected through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund has begun.
