Page 45 - SAMENA Trends - January 2021

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Oman Australia Cable Ready for Installation

The Oman Australia Cable (OAC), which will span 9,800 km
between Muscat and Perth, hit another significant milestone in
its construction with SubCom confirming that the fiber has now
been fully manufactured. Load #1 of 2 is now being loaded onto a
freighter to transfer to the main-lay ship for installation beginning
in March 2021. Final splice for the OAC is on target for December
2021. Once completed, OAC will be the only submarine cable
directly connecting continental Australia and EMEA, providing the
first secure, diverse, express and lowest latency route between
the two continents. OAC is designed with 4 fiber pairs and a total
system capacity of 54 Tbps. Bevan Slattery, founder of SUB.
CO said, “2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year to
commit to building a cable of this scale, but I am delighted that
we have achieved 100% of cable production and completed the
first load system assembly testing within the original product
schedule. This could not have been done without the assistance
of our fantastic partners: SubCom.” David Coughlan, CEO of
SubCom noted, "We knew that this was going to be a task when has been thrown at us, our team has done an exceptional job to
we committed to the program back in February 2020, but we also keep this project going, on time, on budget and most importantly,
knew we would be up for the challenge. Despite everything that safely.”

Mobile Data Users in Nepal Higher Than Wi-Fi

A recent Nepal Telecommunication Au- develop infrastructures for fiber net. Thus, and Smart Cells are just Mobile operators
thority (NTA) report has shown higher internet users are mostly relying on mobile whereas Nepal Telecom provides various
mobile data users than WiFi here in Ne- data. Smartphones give users portabili- services such as FTTH, ADSL, WiMAX,
pal. This is based on the Management In- ty and practicality which fiber or wireless etc. As it seems, Nepali internet commu-
formation System (MIS) report of NTA for system can’t afford instantly. Furthermore, nity is not only expanding technology it
the month of Kartik 2077. The MIS of last Aryal pointed out that due to network ex- is also contributing to a healthy compe-
Kartik highlighted that there are current- pansion limitations, Fiber net has not been tition. As smartphone users are increas-
ly 23,921,180 broadband internet users. used widely all over the country. To use ing daily, so the demands for the internet
Among the internet users 17,575,419 surf a fiber net, you need to reside at specif- and the communications companies and
the web using mobile data. Fixed broad- ic fixed locations (Home or office) while ISP are doing their best to afford the ser-
band users in Nepal are around 63,45,761. smartphone users can use the internet vice at reasonable prices and raise their
The table illustrates internet distribution in on-the-go. The advantages of mobile data customes base. Internet penetration has
Nepal among different technologies. easily trump over fiber net when it comes reached 80% across the country. At pres-
Mobile Data Wired Internet to feasibility at the users’ end. Find Wifi ent, Nepal Telecom has been providing
1,75,75,419 6,11,999 Vs Mobile data for internet connectivity. copper-based ADSL internet service in ru-
Fixed Broadband Wireless Internet Internet usage from the cellular network ral areas whereas Fiber-based FTTH is the
63,45,761 26,662 doesn’t have a long history in Nepal. How- running service in urban areas. While the
Likewise, wired broadband has 6,11,999 ever, it has quickly steadily improved in the telecommunication services display wide
users while 26,662 subscribe to wireless country. So far there are three companies use of broadband connections, in terms of
protocols. As of now, mobile data users providing mobile communication services bandwidth consumption, Wi-Fi stays well
are ranked at the top with 76%, fixed wire namely Nepal Telecom, Ncell, and Smart ahead. Heavy internet users usually surf
26%, and fixed wireless at just 1%. NTA’s telecom. Chaudhary Group is also ambi- from urban areas. Audio/Video streaming,
spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal believed tious about launching its own version of downloading, and online gaming over Wi-
the high user number of mobile data is due Jio services in Nepal, with the brand name Fi (home broadband) consume far more
to mobility and convenience. Smartphone CG Telecom. But its availability in the future bandwidth in Nepal than that of cellular
users have grown increasingly in Nepal. is unsure. Among the existing three, Nepal networks. Nepal Telecommunications Au-
Source. Due to portability, mobile data is Telecom enjoys the most subscribers that thority (NTA) released the above statistics
an easy choice for smartphone users. The are 1,06,19,143 at present. Privately owned based on the distribution of wireless, ca-
users can simply buy a sim and in a few Ncell has 67,56,515 users while Smart Cell ble, fiber, and 3G and 4G internet services.
clicks, the internet is on. It is not easy to has drawn only 1,99,761 users so far. Ncell

45 JANUARY 2021