Kathmandu, December 1:

Nepal Telecom’s mobile telephone services in many parts of the Kathmandu Valley remained disrupted for nearly two hours in the morning today.

Nepal Telecom (NT) later termed the failure as merely a “technical snag”. The latest problem, which saw mobile phone services dead for two hours, is only an indicator of how bad the things can get on any day if the authorities do not add to infrastructure.

The services went down at around 7:05 am. With services dead, mobile phone sets showed no sign of ‘tower’ on their screens. The disruption lasted well until 8:55 am before the connectivity was restored.

“The problem started at 7:05, and it took until 8:55 before it was rectified. The period saw ‘tower’ sign missing from the screens of mobile phone sets,” said Rabindra Jha, Manager of the Mobile Service Directorate. He said the problem was seen only at few localities of the City, with Ban-eswor being the worst hit.

Surendra Thike, the spokesperson for the Nepal Telecom, said it was not a major problem even though it was a kind of breakdown, which has been experienced for the first time. “Our software identified the problem and the technical team quickly fixed it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jha said “networking problems” would be over soon after new equipment, which have already been imported, are installed. He however conceded that growing number of customers and unchanged number of communication towers in the City has often

led to difficulties related to connectivity.

“What I want to stress is that a new machine we bought has already arrived at our Jawalakel

office. We are very confident of solving the networking problems soon. This will also rule out any similar breakdown in the future,” Jha said.