Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Internet user base climbs by 160 per cent

The total number of internet users has grown by a significant a whopping 160 per cent within a year, according to the Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) -- the regulator of the telecom service providers -- latest report.

"At the end of fiscal year 2009-10, the number of internet users rose to 1,359,805, from 515,592 a fiscal year ago, the data revealed.

A sizeable portion of the growth is attributed to the number of people accessing the internet through General packet radio service (GPRS)-enabled mobile phones, it said, adding "which has helped internet penetration to increase to 4.85 per cent."

Of these, GPRS internet users accounted for 1.153 million, up a massive 800,000 in twelve months.

GPRS is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication systems global system for mobile communications (GSM).

Meanwhile, the number of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) subscribers to Nepal Telecom (NT) increased to 45,435 from 15,661 previously.

ADSL is one form of the Digital Subscriber Line technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.

However, the telecom authority also reported that the number of subscribers of dial-up, wireless modem, cable modem, optical fibre, earth net and cable net subscribers fell over the same period, standing at 73,186, compared to 1,13,406 a year earlier.

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