Thursday, June 27, 2013

दूरसञ्चारमा पूर्वाधार साझेदारी हुन सकेन


काठमाडौं, ९ असार-कारोबार दैनिक  दूरसञ्चार क्षेत्रमा भौतिक पूर्वाधार साझेदारीको काम हुन सकेको छैन । सेवाप्रदायकबीच पूर्वाधार निर्माणमा साझेदारी नहुँदा उपभोक्ता महँगो शुल्कमा पर्दै आएका छन् । सेवाप्रदायकबीच पूर्वाधार निर्माणमा साझेदारी गर्नेगरी सरकारले ‘दूरसञ्चार पूर्वाधार निर्माण तथा सहप्रयोगसम्बन्धी आदेश २०६९’ जारी गरे पनि आदेश कार्यान्वयनमा नआउँदो उपभोक्ता महँगो शुल्कमा परेका हुन् । हाल ६ वटा दूरसञ्चार कम्पनी र ४२ वटा इन्टरनेट सेवाप्रदायक कम्पनीले अनुमति लिएर काम गरिरहेका छन् । हाल सबै कम्पनीले आ–आफ्नै पूर्वाधारबाट सेवा दिइरहेकाले सबैलाई एउटै पूर्वाधारमा केन्द्रित गर्दा सेवा सस्तो पर्ने उनीहरूको भनाइ छ । समयानुकूल नीति नहुँदा पूर्वाधार विकासमा आवश्यकताभन्दा धेरै रकम खर्च भएको आरोप सेवाप्रदायकको छ । दूरसञ्चार पूर्वाधारको लगानीलाई न्यून गरी सेवालाई सस्तो तथा सर्वसुलभ बनाउन भन्दै गत वर्ष सरकारले आदेश ल्याए पनि त्यसअनुरूपमा कार्यविधि, निर्देशिका र सर्तहरू नबनेपछि कार्यान्वयनमा समस्या देखिएको हो ।
दूरसञ्चार पूर्वाधारको सहप्रयोगका लागि बन्ने निर्देशिका नेपाल दूरसञ्चार प्राधिकरणको सञ्चालक समिति (बोर्ड)ले पारित गर्नुपर्छ । प्राधिकरण भने आठ महिनादेखि अध्यक्षविहीन छ । प्राधिकरणमा अध्यक्ष नहुँदा गम्भीर प्रकृतिका निर्णय गर्न गाह्रो भइरहेको जनाइएको छ । प्राधिकरणका निर्देशक आनन्दराज खनालले कार्यविधि, निर्देशिका, मापदण्ड, सर्त, सुविधालगायतका धेरै काम तयारीको क्रममा रहेको बताए । खनालले गत वर्ष जारी आदेश तत्काल कार्यान्वयन हुनसक्ने अवस्थामा नरहेको जानकारी दिए । सञ्चार क्षेत्रको दीर्घकालीन विकास तथा व्यवस्थापन गर्न अप्टिकल फाइबर जस्ता पूर्वाधारको विकास गर्ने, हालका पूर्वाधारसमेतको व्यवस्थापन गर्न सक्ने गरी छुट्टै सञ्चार पूर्वाधार विकास कम्पनी वा संस्था स्थापना गर्ने सम्बन्धमा आवश्यकता र औचित्यको अध्ययन गर्ने व्यवस्था आदेशले गरेको छ । दूरसञ्चार तथा इन्टरनेट सेवाप्रदायकले केही वर्षदेखि भौतिक पूर्वाधार साझेदारी गरी सेवा दिने नीति माग गर्दै आएका थिए । पूर्वाधार साझेदारीका लागि आदेश जारी भए पनि पुनः अनुमति लिनुपर्ने व्यवस्था भएपछि सेवाप्रदायकहरूले चासो देखाएका छैनन् । ठूला कम्पनी झनै सशक्त भएकाले आफूहरूलाई समस्या परेको साना कम्पनीहरूले बताउँदै आएका छन् ।

Monday, June 24, 2013

टेलिकमले १,९९९ मा डाटाकार्ड दिने

doorsanchar.com दूरसञ्चार सेवा प्रदायक कम्पनीहरु इन्टरनेट सेवामा केन्द्रीत हुने क्रम बढिरहेको छ। समयको माग नै द्रूत गतिको इन्टरनेट रहेकाले ठूला दूरसञ्चार कम्पनी नेपाल टेलिकम र एनसेल इन्टरनेट सेवा बेच्नमा लागि परेका छन्। नेपाल टेलिकमले एडीएसएल, वाइम्याक्स, सीडीएमए, डायलअप, थ्रीजी लगायतका प्रविधिबाट इन्टरनेट सेवा दिइरहेको छ। एनसेलले पनि थ्रीजी डाटाकार्ड मार्फत इन्टरनेट सेवा दिँदै आएको छ।
data-card
इन्टरनेट सेवाको बजारमा नेपाल टेलिकम र एनसेल बीच तिब्र प्रतिस्पर्धा छ। सेवा, गुणस्तर र मूल्यमा यी दुर्इ कम्पनी बीच प्रतिस्पर्धा हुँदा उपभोक्तालाई भने सस्तोमा सेवा मिलिरहेको छ। यसै क्रममा नेपाल टेलिकमले सीडीएमए प्रविधिको इन्टरनेटलाई डाटा कार्डसँग बण्डलिङ गरेर सेवा दिने भएको छ। टेलिकमले इभिडियो डाटाकार्ड १,९९९ मा उपलब्ध गराउने बताएको छ। टेलिकम वायरलेस सेवा निर्देशनालयका उपप्रबन्धक अनन्तमान सिंहले टेलिकमले डाटाकार्डसँग बण्डल गरेर इभिडियो सेवा ल्याउन लागेको बताए। सिंहका अनुसार टेलिकमले असार मसान्तमा यो बण्डल प्याकेज उपभोक्ताका लागि उपलब्ध हुनेछ। टेलिकमको इभिडियो सेवामा ३.१ एमबीपीएस सम्मको गति पाउन सकिन्छ।
टेलिकमले ल्याउने इभिडियो डाटाकार्डमा उपभोक्ताले तिर्ने शूल्कमा डाटाकार्डका साथ एक महिना भित्र प्रयोग गरिसक्नुपर्ने गरि पाँच जीबी डाटा पाउनेछन्। टेलिकमले दिने डाटाकार्डमा एकजीबीको डाटा स्टोरेज क्षमता पनि उपलब्ध हुनेछ। जसले छुट्टै पेनड्राइभ बोक्नुपर्ने अवस्था रहनेछैन। उपप्रबन्धक अनन्तमान सिंहले टेलिकमको सीडीएमए नेटवर्कको कभरेज देशभर भएकाले यो सेवा लिनेहरुले देशभर जहाँ पनि इन्टरनेट चलाउन सक्नेछन्। टेलिकमको सीडीएमए सेवा लिनेहरुले कमजोर नेटवर्क भएको स्थानमा पनि वान एक्स मोडमा इन्टरनेट चलाउन सक्छन्। देशमा बैशाख सम्मको दूरसञ्चार तथ्यांकले देशका २५.२३ प्रतिशत जनसंख्या सम्म इन्टरनेट पुगेको देखाएको छ।

Monday, June 17, 2013

Nepal Telecom to increase prepaid recharge card validity period.


Government owned Telecom- Nepal Telecom is going to increase the validity period of prepaid recharge cards. As NT board has made a decision for the increment, Nepal Telecom will be implementing the decision soon. There were many complaints from the customers regarding the validity as they had to extend the validity period by topping up the balance even if they got unused balance in their mobile. The extension of  validity is beneficial to less consuming customers and those who use mobile phone for receiving purpose only.  With the new decision, validity period of 100 Rs recharge card will be increased to 2 months from the current 21 days. And the validity period of 200 Rs, 500 Rs and 1000 Rs (Current: months,  6 months and 1 year) will be increased to 5 months, 1 year and 2 year respectively.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Handset shortage hits NT’s IP-CDMA project

KATHMANDU, JUN 03 -Kathmandu Post, Ramesh Shrestha:  Nepal Telecom’s (NT) plan to distribute new mobile lines under its new IP-CDMA project has hit snag due to the shortage of handsets compatible with the technology. Even as the company targets to sell 300,000 Removable User Identity Module (RUIM) cards by the end of the current fiscal year, it has not been able to intensify its distribution plan. NT’s RUIM cards require separate handsets that support voice and data service in IP-CDMA network. The state-owned company had signed agreement with authorised dealers of Samsung and Alcatel to supply handsets and sell bundling with RUIM cards. But Samsung’s IP-CDMA handset is not compatible with NT’s RUIM card and Alcatel’s bidding handset has become obsolete. NT so far has distributed around 145,000 RUIM cards—a majority of which includes distribution to existing customers who replaced their old CDMA mobile RUIM cards, according to Rajesh Joshi, joint spokesperson for NT.  Old CDMA lines used to support either voice or data service only. Joshi said the new RUIM card has the capacity to provide voice and high speed data service too.  The IP-CDMA project has capacity of 2 million mobile lines for the entire country. In August 2011, Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies had signed a $30 million contract with NT for the implementation the IP CDMA project.

In a bid to bring new handsets supporting IP-CDMA network, NT had also called a tender, in which three companies dealing in Lenovo, a Chinese and an Indian brand had proposed to supply the handsets.  NT has said the company is under evaluation phase of the bid documents to select new suppliers that will sell handsets bundling with NT’s RUIM card. A senior NT official said Samsung’s dealers failed to bring handsets as agreed and the manufacturing of the model of Alcatel’s handset for which NT had signed an agreement has stopped. “These problems created shortage of handsets models which also affected our target for this year,” said the official. “We will bring new handsets and USB modems for our service bundling.” After Samsung failed to bring handsets, only Alcatel handsets were sold in market bundling with NT’s Sky Pro service at Rs 13,500. “We could not bring the handsets for NT’s RUIM card as Samsung handsets are not compatible,” said Deepak Malhotra, chairman of International Marketing Services, authorised distributor of Samsung handsets for Nepal. He said they did not participate in the new bid either. However, as per NT officials, Alcatel has expressed interest to supply new model compatible with the IP CDMA technology.  NT’s IP-CDMA service is being promoted as Sky Pro which can provide data service at speeds up to 3.1 Mbps, besides voice service. With a view to make the internet service available for customers using other devices such as laptops and desktops, the company is also preparing to procure USB modems and sell along with RUIM card.  “We are planning to sell 2,500 such modems in the first phase,” said Ananta Man Singh, deputy manager at Wireless Telephone Directorate of NT. He said the modems would also contain software that allows users to make calls from laptops and desktops computers. The modem would cost around Rs 2,000. Customers buying the USB model will also get 5 GB data for free along with RUIM card. Sky Pro service is the cheapest mobile data service as the company offers 1 MB data service at 50 paisa. The company officials said since they had received tariff approval from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority, the company soon would launch various data packages in different volumes and validity periods ranging from one day to one year.

Posted on: 2013-06-04 09:03