KATHMANDU: It has been four years since 4G internet service was launched in Nepal and its users have reached five million today.
Nepal Telecom (NT), Ncell and Smart Telecom have been catering 4G service in Nepal. As per statistics maintained by NTA, number of 4G users as of mid-July stands at 5.49 million.
NT had 1.55 million 4G users by the end of mid-July. Though NT had launched 4G in January 2017, its 4G users were limited to 842,000 till mid-February 2020. Since then, NT started expanding its 4G service across all 77 districts and its 4G users have started increasing. Though NT had 843,000 4G users till mid-July this year, the company’s 4G users increased by a whopping 83 percent (778,868) within next one month.
Ncell, which got permission for the 4G service six months after NT, has got more than double the number of users as compared to NT.
As of last July, the number of Ncel’sl4G users is 3.76 million. Within a year of launching the service, Ncell had successfully expanded its 4G market wisely and reached to 1.1 million users while NT had only 600,000 4G users in one and half year of launching the service.
Though the private telecom firm became aggressive in 4G expansion, the state-owned NT became embroiled in tensions over process and leadership. Meanwhile, users have been raising questions over the quality of 4G service, especially in rural parts of the country.
Min Prasad Aryal, spokesperson for NTA warned that the authority will take action against telecom firms not delivering quality internet services.