Major cities to have 4G service soon

Kathmandu, Oct. 3: Telecom service provider companies Nepal Telecommunication Company (NTC) and Ncell are set to aggressively expand the 4G service across the country.

In a couple of months from now, all major cities will have the 4G technology. 

According to the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA), the NTC is setting up 77 new BTS towers in the Kathmandu valley while Ncell is working to construct additional 135 towers in 10 cities across the country.

Deputy Spokesperson of the NTC Shovan Adhikari said that the company was implementing phase-wise plan to expand the service that entered the country last year.

“In the first phase, 4G service will be expanded to all major cities including all the metropolis and sub-metropolis. We are at the last stage of calling for the bids for the same. The tender document is almost ready,” he said.

The state owned telecom service provider has installed about 310 4G towers in the Kathmandu Valley and 25 in Pokhara-Lekhnath metropolis so far.  

NTC has more than 500,000 customers using the 4G service.

The private sector company Ncell has expanded the service to 17 cities – Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Damauli, Pokhara, Birtamod, Damak, Dharan, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Hetauda, Birgunj, Bharatpur, Nepalgunj, Butwal, Kohalpur and Surkhet.

I has installed about 878 4G BTS towers to provide the latest technology to its user in those cities.

In addition to it, the NTA is mulling to increase the number of 3G towers to 292 that will be operated as per the technology neutrality.

Currently, 54 towers are in operation in the country using the technology neutrality feature.

According to NTA Chairman Digambar Jha, the telecom sector regulator has given due priority to the expansion of the 4G technology, infrastructure development and policy reforms.