Nepal Telecom rolls out 4G in 77 districts

Nepal Telecom (NT) has successfully expanded its 4G telecom service in all the 77 districts across the country.
Speaking during an event organised to mark the 16th anniversary of the state-owned telecommunication company, here today, managing director of NT Dilli Ram Adhikari claimed that the company had successfully tested its 4G telecom service in Simikot, the headquarters of Humla district, on Tuesday (???). “Humla was the last district that was to be connected to NT’s 4G service.”
With the successful expansion of its 4G service in Humla, NT has become the first and largest telecom service provider of the country, he confirmed, adding that the NT has – till date – installed 3,683 4G service compatible base transceiver station (BTS) towers across Nepal and has also set up 200 towers recently that are only 4G compatible.
Claiming that the NT is expanding its service as per the demand from the consumers, Adhikari said that the NT plans to upgrade 2,200 BTS towers to make them 4G compatible, while add new 640 4G BTS towers across the country soon. “The company has started to implement the federal system and is in the process of converting its regional offices into provincial headquarters to provide effective service to NT subscribers.”
The state-owned telecom company has been working hard to expand its services to compete with the private sector telecom service providers. But it has been riled by the increasing trade union activities, decelerating the productivity of employees.
Addressing the programme, minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota took a swipe at the trade unions. “The government will not tolerate anyone trying to permeate politics in state companies that provide essential services,” he said, adding that the ones, who are interested in politics should join the political parties. 

Nepal Telecom to start 4G service in 50 cities

Nepal Telecom (NT) is bringing 4G services into operation in 50 urban areas throughout the country from Wednesday.
The telecom service provider is announcing the expansion of the 4G service by organising a programme – in Kathmandu – which would be addressed by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, according to the Nepal Telecom spokesperson Pratibha Baidya. “The BTS towers have been installed at more than 110 places to roll out the 4G service,” she said, adding that the number of BTS towers will reach 150 by Wednesday.
The 4G service will be started in Chandragadhi, Birtamod, Damak, Biratnagar, Inaruwa, Dharan, Dhankuta, Janakpur, Jesleshwar, Malangawa, Bara, Parsa, Simara, Kalaiya and Gaur. Similarly, the service will also be expanded to Dhading, Kavrepalanchok, Sundhupalchok, Bidur, Manthali, Bhimeshwar, Sindhulimadhi, Parbat, Kushma, Baglung, Chitwan, Sauraha, Taulihawa, Butwal, Devdaha, Tulsipur, Ghorahi, Nepalgunj, Kohalpur, Surkhet, Bhimdattanagar, Jhalari, Pipaladi, Chaumala and Attariya.
The 4G service is reaching more than 50 places at the same time, according to the Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Banskota’s directive.
“The goal is to expand the 4G LTE service throughout the country by February 12, 2020,” she added.

NT 4G service opened to Apple phone users

Nepal Telecom (NT) has made fourth generation (4G) or Long Term Evolution (LTE) service available to Apple phone users also from today after fixing technical issues.
"4G service is now available to Apple iPhone 6, 6 Plus, Seven and Seven Plus handset users,” the telecom service provider said in a statement.
Even after 4G service was opened to postpaid and prepaid subscribers, people using Apple phones could not switch to the upgraded network due to procedural delays between NT and Apple due to technical issues, according to the telecom service provider.
The US-based Apple said that it would make 4G network compatible with all Apple handsets from March in Nepal. "However, our persistent communication with Apple yielded results as the company made 4G service available by introducing a beta version,” the state-run telecom giant's press note reads. "Apple phone users need to download an application from Apple’s website beta.apple.com."
Due to lack of such version in iPhones available in Nepal, a number of iPhone users were deprived of 4G service. NT had then requested Apple to introduce the feature in its mobile phones in Nepal.
However, users have been advised to make a data backup before downloading the software. After that, they should go to the handset’s general settings, open software update and download the beta version, one of the largest operators in the country said.
NT customers can subscribe to 4G service by dialing *444#.
According to the company, more than 50,000 postpaid users in Kathmandu and Pokhara have switched to 4G network since the service was launched for them on January 1.
It expects the number of prepaid subscribers upgrading to 4G to rise faster as there are more of them than postpaid users. NT has opened 4G service in Kathmandu and Pokhara in the pilot phase.
The telecom service provider has upgraded 308 of its Base Transceiver Station (BTS) towers in the Kathmandu Valley and 25 stations in Pokhara to launch 4G service, it said, adding that the upgraded network allows consumers to use data at speeds of up to 32.4 Mbps. "The company aims to eventually raise the speed to 100 Mbps."
Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has authorised Nepal Telecom to offer 4G service with a bandwidth of 5 Mhz from the 1800 Mhz frequency band. The NT has asked the regulator for another 5 Mhz bandwidth to increase the speed to 100 Mbps. Once the pilot phase is completed, the company aims to launch the service in 15 municipalities in the first phase, according to the regulator of telecommunications sector.
According to the Management Information System (MIS) report of the authority, the NT has 13,536,114 GSM subscribers, apart from 7,504,457 internet service users using GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA technologies. "There are 13.74 million internet service subscribers using these technologies across the country."