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NEPAL ECONOMIC FORUM
DOCKING NEPAL’S ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
INFORMATION AND INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vital role that telecommunications (telecom) infrastructure plays in keeping corporations, governments, and communities linked to each other and going. Given the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the rise in the number of countries implementing travel restrictions, our everyday lives have necessitated us spending more time at home and using more internet data use work and leisure, thus putting a strain on the telecom industry. Telecommunications companies (telcos) are concentrating on improving network resiliency and assessing how COVID-19 would affect their future investments, especially in 5G. Telcos are also making improvements to support consumers, who need networking services more than ever during this time. In some countries, internet data is being used as a tool to track and contain the spread of the virus. 5G network testing to being in four Nepali cities: The Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology (MOCIT) of Nepal has announced that 5G network testing will begin in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Birgunj, and Biratnagar in the near future. The National Radio Frequency Policy Determination Committee has approved the tests. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has proposed using low-band spectrum (700MHz, 900MHz, 2300MHz, and 2600MHz), mid-band spectrum (3300MHz, 3400MHz, 3600MHz.
and 4100MHz), and high-band spectrum (26GHz), and NTA will now determine which frequencies will be assigned to operators for 5G services.57 Increasing access to telecommunication and data services: The NTA recorded the
tele-density of the country at 131% with 811,850 fixed line subscribers (2.7%) and 38.7 million mobile subscribers (128%). Similarly, the number of internet data subscribers stood at 25.4 million subscribers. The internet penetration rate as of
mid-February 2021 stands at 84%. As shown in Figure 4, the internet penetration is largely driven by mobile broadband services, which account for approximately 61% of the internet penetration, and fixed broadband (wired & wireless), which contributes to 22% of the internet penetration.58 Market share of telecom operators:
As shown in Figure 5, the market leader Nepal Telecom (NTC) recorded a total of 21.2 million (GSM & CDMA) subscribers, while Ncell had 16.09 million GSM subscribers.
