KATHMANDU, MAY 26

As many as 87.19 per cent of the population has access to the internet in the country.

According to the data (till the first eight months of the current fiscal year) unveiled by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), over 26.35 million population is connected to internet facility.

NTA has registered over 936,000 new users in the month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March) compared to the previous months, showing that 87.19 per cent population have internet access till Falgun (March 13).

The prepared report was based on the population projection (2011-2030) and assumes the current total population of Nepal to be 29.87 million.

The number of people using internet through mobile devices is the highest, making up 64.08 per cent of the total number of users.

Likewise, 11.56 million population have access to 3G internet and the customers of Nepal Telecom are the largest contributors as their number is 9.94 million followed by 2.47 million Ncell users.

This number was 11.35 million in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) and it increased by 200,000 in Falgun (mid-February to mid-March).

Similarly, the number of 4G users has reached 7.66 million.

Three telecommunications companies have launched the 4G services and the users of Ncell make up the highest portion (4.85 million). The number of 4G users was 4.32 million in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February).

The data shows that the number of state-owned Nepal Telecom 4G service users has reached 2.58 million and their number in the month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March) went up by 44,570 than in the previous month.

Similarly, the 4G service users of Smart Telecom has reached 223,145 and the number in the month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March) rose by 1,000 than in the previous month.

The contribution of fixed broadband is 22.35 per cent which amounts to 812,000 and FTTH (Fiber to the Home) is over 5,945,000.