KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 19

Around 22.8 million of the population across the country now have internet access.

Among the total users, 56 per cent of internet users are using mobile data, according to Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).

Mobile broadband users

NT

Ncell

STPL

3G

8,422,931

2,779,290

—

4G

1,604,456

3,729,453

182,545

EVDO

136,573

—

—

Source: Nepal Telecommunications Authority

As per the Management Information System (MIS) report of NTA, there are a large number of 4G and fixed broadband users in the country. Around 5.7 million users are using fixed broadband for internet. Of them, 918,000 are using ADSL, while the remaining 4.8 million users are using private sector’s cable or fibre-to-thehome internet services.

According to the MIS report, fixed broadband has 19 per cent share in Nepali internet market, while wireless broadband has 76 per cent market share. Meanwhile, mobile broadband has the highest market share in the country. A total of 56 per cent users are using mobile data in the country.

Among mobile networking service providers, around 1.6 million users are of Nepal Telecom, while 3.7 million users are using Ncell.

Meanwhile, Smartcell has 182,585 4G users. According to NTA, there are over 11 million 3G users in the country.

The MIS report has also mentioned that Nepal Telecom has a total of 11.4 million subscribers, while Ncell has 6.5 million users.

The report has further revealed that even after four years of launch of 4G service in the country, the growth of 4G users has not been as expected. The mobile networking service providers are still not being able to give their services in most of the remote areas in the country.

Recently, internet consumption has also increased due to COVID-19 pandemic.

In the meantime, Min Prasad Aryal, spokesperson for NTA, said that the aforementioned internet penetration rate may not be very accurate as a single person may be using more than one SIM. Similarly, towards the fixed and wireless broadband users, single fixed internet connection allows numerous users to connect to the internet at the same time.