KATHMANDU, MAY 11 - Nepal now has 20 million telecom subscribers. Although now announced officially, the latest milestone in the telecom sector was achieved in the first week of May.
It took almost a century to reach the 10-million mark. But the next 10 million came in just two and half years. It was in November 2010 when the country’s total telecom subscriber had crossed the 10-million mark.
The overall growth in the number telecom subscribers has been supported by the growth in the number of customers in the GSM mobile segment. Of the total subscribers, 17 million are mobile users.
There was also another milestone reached this month: Ncell’s subscriber base has crossed the 10-million mark. The company had toppled Nepal Telecom (NT) form the No 1 spot in the GSM mobile segment two years ago.
According to Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), Ncell’s subscriber base crossed 10 million on May 3. “Subscribers of Ncell crossed 10 million on May 3, which shows that the total users of telecom services have crossed 20 million,” said a source at the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).
With Ncell having 10 million subscribers, the remaining 10 million subscribers belong to five other telecom companies — Nepal Telecom, United Telecom Limited (UTL), Smart Telecom, STM Telecom Sanchar and Nepal Satellite Telecom (NST).
“Our subscriber base has crossed the 10 million mark, which is yet another milestone,” said Sanju Koirala, corporate communication director of Ncell.
NTA officials said customers of telecom services increased with the voice service becoming a basic telecom need across the country. They said increased network coverage, cheaper technology and competition among telecom players were the driving force behind the growth in subscribers.
“People’s capacity to spend in telecom services fueled the growth in subscriber base,” said Ananda Raj Khanal, acting chief of the NTA. He said the new provision of unified telecom licence will create more competition and push the penetration further up — as high as 100 percent.
A rapid expansion in mobile services by Ncell and NT was instrumental in the overall telecom sector growth. In 1999, when NT started providing mobile services, the telecom penetration was 2 percent and was dominated by fixed landline.
The government has issued the unified licence to Smart Telecom permitting it to provide multiple telecom services, including mobile. As per government plan, United Telecom Limited (UTL), Smart Telecom, STM Telecom Sanchar and Nepal Satellite Telecom (NST) will also be awarded the unified telecom licence.
As of mid-March, Ncell has 49 percent market share, followed by state-owned Nepal Telecom (NT) with 44 percent, UTL and Smart Telecom 3 percent each and NST 1 percent.
NTA officials said although there was a significant growth in the subscriber base, poor service quality has remained as a major problem for a long. They said companies will have no other options but to improve their service and bring new value added services to survive in the market when competition heightens further.
More customers will be subscribing to NT as soon it starts distribution of new SIM cards under its 10 million GSM mobile lines project, according to the NTA. NT is planning to start distribution of new SIM cards from May 17, the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
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