History and Development of Telecommunication In Nepal: Milestones

The history of Telecommunication in Nepal dates back to 1913 when the first telephone line was introduced in Kathmandu with an open-wire trunk between Kathmandu and Raxual (an Indian border town) in 1914. With the evolution of the services from the early days, we have reached a much-developed telecom market here in Nepal, along with the introduction of advanced technologies.

Telecom operators in Nepal.

To date, there are six Telecom operators with a broad range of technologies (Landline / Mobile / WLL) like PSTN, ADSL, GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, LTE, EVDO, NGN, and SIP. Nepal Telecom (previously Nepal Telecommunication Corporation) is the incumbent operator, owned by the government of Nepal being the only landline operator. It has almost all services/technologies in almost all areas of the nation. Among them, Nepal Telecom (NTC) and Ncell are the only telcos that have nationwide mobile coverage.

Ncell (previously Spice Nepal), previously Teliasonera associate (now an Axiata company) is a fast-growing GSM operator in the nation. It adopts new business strategies and approaches to allure customers to its network. STM Sanchar, an American investment is a rural basic telephony operator with a satellite link, especially available in Mountainous Region where there is no option for other services.

Now CG Telecom acquired the whole STM Sanchar telecom company. UTL, United Telecom is a joint venture of three Indian Telecom giants( MTNL, TCIL, TCL) with Nepal Ventures Private Limited (NVPL), operating in CDMA technology for WLL and Mobile. But UTL’s service is not available now.

• NTA revokes the license of Nepal Satellite Telecom Company operating under the brand Hello mobile.

Unified license.

Among Others, Nepal satellite and Smart cell are two operators given GSM License and frequency operating in different Rural VDC (Village Development Committee) and later to get the license to operate all over the nation (including populous cities Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Pokhara, etc). UTL, Smart has already got the unified license to operate GSM service in all parts of the country.

4G operators in Nepal.

Nepal Telecom launched a 4G LTE service in Kathmandu and Pokhara at the beginning of the year 2017. Ncell then introduced 4G in major cities of Nepal. Similarly, Smart telecom has also expanded its 4G coverage to 19 districts. Another telecom operator CG Telecom had inked a huge deal with Huawei for a 4G network but they are yet to receive the mobile telephony license called the unified license.

Nepal Telecom expands 4G service to all 77 districts but not all parts of the country. After expanding 4G to all areas of the country, they have attained the widest 4G Coverage in Nepal.

History of Telecommunication in Nepal with milestones.

Here are some major milestones in the history of telecommunication in Nepal.

We suggest you read Telecommunications in Nepal: Current state and needs >>

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