Ncell to double network capacity in the Valley

Kathmandu, August 10

A major network upgrade being carried out by Ncell in the Kathmandu Valley aims at doubling the voice and data traffic capacity, enhancing communication quality and customer experience.

“We are doing a major upgrade that aims to increase both coverage and capacity of our network in the Valley. More than 50 per cent of the network has already been upgraded and the works are scheduled to be completed by the end of August,” the press statement issued today quoted Andras Pali, chief technology officer at Ncell, as saying. “We target consistently high mobile data transfer speeds of up to 42 Mbps throughout the Valley. This is almost double the speed we currently offer in some parts of the Valley.”

Under upgrading, Ncell is installing base stations with less weight that consume less power and therefore reduce the carbon footprint. At the same time, they have more capacity. Ncell is also adding more towers to increase coverage. The new base stations are being built as designated by the regulator, in compliance with the new rules and guidelines such as height and load of tower. All installations will be done on buildings with building code certification.

While the upgrade is underway, Ncell has also been addressing the gaps created in the network due to dismantling of towers following the earthquake. Ncell has so far had to dismantle about 30 towers due to civil risk surfacing on the buildings after the disaster. To quickly plug the gaps, the company is using mobile deployment units like ‘cell on wheel’ and ‘cell on leg’ as an immediate temporary solution to ensure continuity of communication to the customers, the release adds.