Fixed telephony base surpasses 850,000 in December

The country saw its fixed telephony base grow to 851,199 in mid-December, up from 849,096 in mid-November.

The total includes 647,152 PSTN subscribers and 198,219 WLL telephony users, figures from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).

Nepal Telecom (NT) leads the PSTN market with 647,152 customers, up from 645,013 a month earlier, while STM Telecom Sanchar's base was flat at 5,230 customers. Smart had 598 public phone centres, the same as in the previous month.

Nepal Telecom also leads the WLL market with 122,505 customers for the service, slightly down from 122,541 in November, followed by UTL with 73,070 subscribers, same as the previous month.

Nepal Satellite Telecom had 2,644 WLL subscribers, also unchanged. Meanwhile, the number of limited mobility subscribers stood at 1.74 million, up from 1.71 million, and Global Mobile Personal Communications (GMPCS) users remained at 1,742 in December.

Three out of every four Nepalis have mobile

Three out of every four Nepalis have mobile, if the recent data released by the telecommunications authority is to believe.

In a country of 26 million population, mobile subscribers' base has increased to 19.59 million in mid-October – up from 19.40 million in mid-September – figures of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) revealed.

Though, in most of the urban areas, professionals have two to three mobile, the report stated that a total of 18.60 million use GSM – up from 18.43 million – and the remainder uses Nepal Telecom's CDMA service.

Ncell led the GSM market with 10.81 million subscribers – up from 10.76 million a month ago – while Nepal Telecom had 7.80 million GSM subscribers – up from 7.67 million in September – and the Nepse-listed company also had 987,363 CDMA customers, up from 973,392 a month earlier.

Likewise, the fixed telephony base also grew slightly in October to 847,973 from 847,008 a month earlier, it said, adding that the total includes 649,091 PSTN subscribers and 198,882 WLL telephony users. Nepal Telecom led with 643,263 PSTN customers, down from 642,353 a month earlier, while STM Telecom Sanchar's base was flat at 5,230 customers. Smart had 598 PSTN public phone centres, the same as in the previous month. Nepal Telecom also served 122,862 WLL customers, down from 123,041 in September, while Nepal Satellite Telecom's WLL base was stable at 2,950 subscribers. UTL had 73,070 WLL customers, up from 72,836 in the prior month.

Meanwhile, the number of limited mobility subscribers stood at 1.66 million versus 1.61 million a month earlier and Global Mobile Personal Communications (GMPCS) users numbered 1,742, it revealed.