14th July 2020, Kathmandu
Nepal Telecom is preparing to provide WiFi in every ward of the country. The company is in the first phase targeting government and other institutional offices in the ward, according to the Managing Director, Dilli Ram Adhikari.
He further informs that the work of expanding the WiFi facility is a part of the annual event of the coming fiscal year 2077/78 BS.
How does Nepal Telecom Plan to Provide WiFi Facility?
The company will use a particular ‘device’ through the BTS tower in the ward. Telecom’s engineer Amrit Nepal informed that telco would use frequencies of 800 and 1800 MHz bands to provide WiFi.
Moreover, the company is preparing to provide Landline phone facilities along with WiFi. Amrit Nepal also shed light on the necessity and importance of fixed telephone for institutional users.
The device will have a separate port of telephone and will facilitate communication by connecting to a standard phone. The device will use a SIM card for this purpose.
However, the landline numbers will start from the district code that Telecom is currently providing. According to Er. Nepal, the phone number will start from 056 for users of Chitwan.
Telecom is planning to replace the CDMA fixed phones that have been extended to the villages and to include WiMAX as well.
Also Read: Nepal Telecom launches CDMA Service in Kalapani.
Is this facility available to individual users too?
Managing Director Adhikari also informed that this facility is only available to institutional users and not individual users. He further added that bandwidth is all used in providing the facility to the general public.
Consequently, mobile broadband gets expensive. He said – if resources run out, you have to add more support, which is very limited.
He clarified that Telecom would give more emphasis on the access and quality of mobile broadband in the case of individual users.
The device that provides WiFi facilities to institutional users will be relatively expensive. However, the company is preparing to provide the service as cheaply as possible.
According to MD Adhikari, the device is currently undergoing telephone testing. He said that this facility works even at a long distance from the tower due to the use of a frequency of 800 bands.
Also, the company states that it has prepared a plan to extend this facility to every ward within the next fiscal year.
Suggested Reads:
- How Telco and ICT Sectors can support the Digital Movement of the Government
- Present and Future of Digital Connectivity in the Context of Nepal