After providing telecom service as Mero Mobile, Nepal Satellite Telecom (NST) has emerged as a rural based service provider — Hello Nepal. With an aim to make communication effective and accessible to everyone, especially the rural populace, NST started its GSM service in 2008 by acquiring licence from Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA). Initiating its service with the agreement to provide service in 273 village development committees of mid-western Nepal, now it has expanded its service to all districts of western, mid-western and far-western regions. It also plans to provide services in the capital as well.
“The main reason behind coming up with Hello Nepal is the need for excellent telecommunication services in places that lack it,” said Puru Risal, Public Relation Coordinator at NST. As per terms and conditions set by NTA, Hello Nepal had to provide service to mid-western region only in the beginning, informed Risal. “This was also a trial period in which if the service was up to the mark, the company could expand its services to municipality and then to other development regions.”
According to Risal, after getting approval from NTA, Hello Nepal expanded its services to western and far-western regions along with the initiation of data base service in the second phase. “We have reached Narayanghat, and are in the process of extending our service to the remaining eastern and central regions as well,” he mentioned.
It is the third private company providing GSM service in Nepal. Unlike other telecom service providers, Hello Nepal started its service from rural areas and has been gradually expanding to urban areas. “We believe in providing rural based service more than being the top player in the urban market,” Risal opined adding, “Our main vision is to contribute to the social and economic growth of Nepal by providing world class telecommunication services.”
As of now, there are around 300,000 Hello Nepal users in Nepal. Likewise, there are 90 towers in the mid-west and 116 towers in the west and far-west regions. Since majority of areas where Hello Nepal has been providing services lacks electricity, it has to depend upon solar power for operations. However, one of the major challenges of providing services with solar power, according to him, is the shortage of manpower for repairs when it fails unexpectedly.
“We have started to operate generators for different towers to ensure smooth services,” he stated. “Nevertheless, we have a strong network connection as we have employed high quality technology,” he claimed. He informed that even during the recent earthquake, the company maintained its service along with free SMS service in order to keep up communication.
Along with the addition of new services, Hello Nepal is looking forward to the implementation of the new plan of the government — to use the same tower jointly by all telecom service providers. According to him, this will help extend their services faster and smoother. As of now, the company is providing fixed line service, prepaid, postpaid mobile service and data service only.
Source: http://thehimalayantimes.com/science-technology/connecting-rural-nepal/