Nepal Telecom says that it plans to expand its GSM network to 24 remote regions of the mountainous country, using satellite links for the cellular backhaul. The company expects to spend some US$3 million on the network expansion and is in the process of securing the hardware for the new base stations.
"If things go according to plan, people residing in 24 remote areas will be able to use cell phones within the first quarter of the next fiscal year (July to Sept 2006)," Managing Director of NT, Sugat Ratna Kansakar said.
"Although we have not decided on the number of lines that would be distributed, we believe we will be able to meet the demand of the respective places," he added.
The company said that it offers coverage in 39 districts on the country, but has been unable to expand into more rural areas due to the terrain and local Maoist military action outside the main cities. Its network has also had to suffer from problems caused by the government shut down of the mobile network during the recent elections.
Statistics from The Mobile World note that Nepal Telecom has just under 300,000 subscribers while rival operator, Mero Mobile has 86,000 customers."
Posted to the site on 20th February 2006
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/16197.php