Following the recent cabinet decision, Nepal Telecom, the largest telecommunication service provider in the country, has announced waiver of distant and domestic roaming charges for the GSM and CDMA phones. The announcement comes as heartening news, especially for the growing number of mobile phone users, who had to bear with the excessive charges for phone calls. Following this announcement, users of GSM post paid, post paid C-phone and VSAT can even make use of prepaid calling cards to call America and Canada through an access code. This has not only given NT an edge over its competitors in the market, but also paved the way for making telecommunication services affordable and within the reach of the common public.

However, there are other pet peeves that Nepal Telecom has to address in order to meet the growing demands of its customers. First and foremost, in keeping with the remarkable growth of its network, there is an urgent need for network optimisation in order to fix the persistent network problem. Secondly, while the NT has already launched 3G (third generation) mobile services, the service is yet to reach outside Ring Road. Furthermore, there is not much reason to be complacent unless a majority who still rely on PSTN services can take advantage of the services too. But, equally important is the need to improve the quality of customer care services, which has been the biggest drawback for NT, in reaching out to its customers in a professional manner.