KATHMANDU: Spice Nepal today officially rebranded its brand Mero Mobile to Ncell, with the slogan ‘Here for Nepal’. The letter N stands for Nepal.

Since more than last five years, Spice Nepal has brought equality, flexibility and innovations in mobile communications with the brand name Mero Mobile but after the TeliaSonera family — a European telecommunications group that operates in more than 20 countries — joined Spice Nepal with a majority stake, it wanted to redifine the concept of telecommunications in Nepal.

“People want to improve the quality of their lives with the help of telecommunication services, and we are here to get local,” said Ncell chief executive officer Pasi Koistinen. “Being the pioneer in the market, we are trying to introduce innovative technology and innovative thinking,” Koistinen said adding that with the new brand name the company wants to create ideas to meet customers’ needs in a timely and effective manner. “We are now also targeting rural areas, and rebranding with Ncell is like a new start for us. There are no more challenges left for us and we are definitley going to be the number one mobile service operator in the country,” said Koistinen.

Meanwhile, Ncell partner Dr Upendra Mahato said they in a mode of globalization. Thus, to be a part of the international market and make themselves more distinct they opted for rebranding to Ncell. “We are promoting Nepal with the brand Ncell and will give top quality to customers with cheap and best technology,” said Dr Mahato.

TeliaSonera Eurasia president Tero Kivisaari spoke about his experience in Nepal. “Our company is eager to make more investment in Nepal and expand its network. Localisation is very important, so we are working for long-term investment here and we think our investment will attract more investors,” said Kivisaari.

The name “Ncell” means a local cellular operator with major shareholder TeliaSonera as a significant long-term industrial investor in Nepal.

Spice Nepal Pvt Ltd was established in 2004 to provide mobile telecommunications services. On September 17, 2005, the company got its commercial launch at Kathmandu and vicinity areas while TeliaSonera acquired controlling interest in October 2008. The company has more than 2.2 million subscriptions with approximately coverage of 62 per cent of the population. The net sale of the company is Rs 6.9 billion and investment Rs 5.3 billion. The company is the second largest tax payer in Nepal with a contribution of Rs 3.2 billion. From today, Spice Nepal will operate with the brand name Ncell.

Spice Nepal is a part of TeliaSonera, the fifth largest telecommunication company in Europe, in terms of market value as of January. TeliaSonera provides telecommunication services in the Nordic and Baltic countries, the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, and in Spain. It is now in 20 markets with close to 460 million inhabitants. The number of subscriptions in 2009 reached over 147.6 million and net sales amounted to $14.3 billion. It has around 30,000 employees.

More value

KATHMANDU: Along with Mero Mobile rebranding itself as Ncell, it has also swiped off its expiry date from March 12. Earlier, a Mero Mobile Rs 500 SIM card had a expiry date after six months of purchase if not recharged. “Like in any other advanced economy, we are convinced that the citizens and business people of Nepal also want coverage and telecommunication services. Hence, we are moving on with expansion of mobile network coverage and introduction of the new 3G technology to start with,” said Koistinen adding that from March 12, Ncell has removed the expiry period on prepaid mobiles also.