Kathmandu, May 4

Ncell has received the prestigious Telecom Asia Awards 2017 for implementing the ‘Most Innovative Telecom Project in Asia Pacific’.

Ncell was declared winner and conferred the awards after an independent panel of jury judged Ncell’s initiative with Gham Power Nepal Pvt Ltd to connect the unconnected off-grid communities with telecom as well as energy by promoting off-grid clean power solutions as the most innovative project implemented by telecom service providers in Asia Pacific, as per a media release.

Other projects short-listed for the Most Innovative Telecom Project were Google’s Project Loon, China Unicom’s IoT-based smart parking and SK Telecom of South Korea’s first virtual assistant service ‘Nugu’. Ncell’s project was declared the best based on criteria of innovation, financial performance, technology, market leadership and corporate governance.

Ncell’s Corporate Communications Director Sanju Koirala received the award amid a gala event of 20th Telecom Asia Awards on Wednesday.

“The win is a testament to Ncell’s exemplary works and commitment towards socio-economic advancement of the country,” Simon Perkins, managing director of Ncell, has been quoted as saying.

Telecom Asia Awards, organised by Telecom Asia — Asia’s largest regional telecom publishing group — every year, rewards innovative and outstanding performance by Asian service providers and industry executives.

Under the initiative, Ncell has collaborated with local micro-grid operator, Gham Power, to support each other to connect unconnected off-grid communities of Khotang and Udaypur districts to mobile and energy services, opening new opportunities for them. People in 31 VDCs now have access to Ncell mobile network.

Surplus capacity of the micro grid has contributed in electrification of communities and created new economic opportunities.