Nearly 30 per cent Nepalis have internet access

KATHMANDU: Three out of every 10 Nepalis are using internet services in the country. Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)’s most recent figure shows that the penetration rate of data service had increased to 29.78 per cent by mid-January, 2014.

This means 7.8 million people out of the total population of 26.49 million in the country have subscribed to data service provided by telecom companies and internet service providers (ISPs). NTA’s Management Information System (MIS) shows that ISPs attracted a total of 976,445 new data users in the first half (mid-July to mid-Jan) of the current fiscal year.

The number of new subscribers this year is up by 27 per cent when compared to 763,231 users in the same period last fiscal. Service providers said that the number of data users was growing due to the increasing charm of its multiple use and cheaper tariff. Even telecom companies, which earlier used to mainly focus on voice service, have started giving priority to data service, according to NTA.

Of the total users of data service, 7.4 million are using GPRS, EDGE and 3G services under the wireless data service category and the remaining 0.4 million are using dial up, cable modem, ADSL, WiMax and CDMA network’s EVDO and CDMA 1X, according to the MIS report. Similarly, the telephone penetration rate reached 85.86 per cent by the first half of the current fiscal year.

“Demand for data service is increasing more rapidly compared to voice and the tariff too has come down,” said Arjun Ghimire, deputy director of NTA. He added that it was normal to see more people buying data as it also enables them to make voice calls from applications like Skype and Viber. NTA officials also said that the demand for phone lines, usually used for voice communications, was slowing down as it has neared saturation.

There are 22.47 million users of voice service, which include 22.11 million GSM and CDMA mobile users, according to NTA. After the number of mobile users grew significantly in the last five years, two major telecom companies — Nepal Telecom (NT) and Ncell — have been focusing on mobile broadband services like third generation (3G).

By mid-January this year, users of NT and Ncell data service reached 3.9 and 3.7 million, respectively, according to NTA. Both the companies are also the licence holders of ISPs.Similarly, there are 99,265 internet users availing

services from United Telecom Ltd, while over two dozen other ISPs, including Subisu Cable Net, Mercantile Communications, World Link Communications, Broadlink and Websurfer share 97,689 customers. These ISPs are providing optical fibre, wireless modem, dial-up and cable modem data services.