After Kyirong, NT plans to bring Chinese internet via Tatopani
Kathmandu, April 25
After successful transmission of Chinese internet via Kyirong (Rasuwagadhi) border, Nepal Telecom (NT) is preparing to connect the country to Chinese internet bandwidth from Tatopani border too.
The state-owned telecom operator is currently holding discussions to lay optical fibre along the Tatopani border, which will be an optional internet gateway for Chinese internet to Nepal.
Shovan Adhikari, deputy spokesperson for NT, informed that they have been exploring the feasibility of connecting to the Chinese internet bandwidth via Tatopani border.
“Initially, we had planned to start internet bandwidth trading with China from Tatopani border itself. However, the plan was affected due to the landslides and other damages inflicted on the Tatopani route by the devastating earthquakes of 2015,” said Adhikari.
Later, NT had switched its plan to Kyirong (Rasuwagadhi) border and finally started internet bandwidth trading with China from the same border on January 10.
Adhikari said that the plan to supply Chinese internet via Tatopani will be expedited once the earthquake-destroyed infrastructure along the border are upgraded.
The Tatopani-Khasa road section, one of the popular Nepal-China trading routes, has not been able to operate in full swing after the 2015 earthquake.
Unlike the optical fibre link that connects the two nations with internet through underground optical fibre from Kyirong, NT is planning to use electricity poles to connect to Chinese internet via Tatopani border. NT is learnt to have already sought permission to this effect from Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).
Starting internet bandwidth trading with China from Tatopani is also expected to increase flow of Chinese internet in the country.
Following commercial operation of the Nepal-China optical fibre link via Kyirong, Nepal has been acquiring 1.5GB Chinese internet bandwidth per second from the northern neighbour since early this year.
Prior to this, Nepal was solely dependent on Indian telecom companies for internet bandwidth via different optical fibre connections in Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Birgunj, among others.
Increased flow of internet bandwidth from China is also expected to increase the competition between the various internet service providers in the country, reduce internet cost for consumers and boost the quality of internet in the country.
