KATHMANDU, June 10: Nepal Telecom (NT) is rapidly installing base transceiver station (BTS) towers in different rural parts of the country with the aim of providing quality telecommunications services to people there.

Pratibha Vaidya, the spokesperson for NT, said the state-owned operator was expanding its infrastructure as parts of its '10 million GSM Line Project'. 

Under the project, the company is erecting 160 BTS towers throughout the country. The project, which started in 2013, is expected to be completed within the current fiscal year if things go as planned, according to NT.

"We have been working tirelessly to provide GSM service in rural parts of the country where customers are deprived of telecommunications services,” Shobhan Adhikari, the deputy spokesperson for NT, said. “We are erecting BTS towers in 160 rural localities.
Among them, 40 localities have no telecommunications service at all.”

Though the cost of installing BTS in rural areas is very high, NT is always committed at provide quality service to its customers, Adhikari said. "We have been working to install BTS towers in rural areas as per the government policy of expanding telecommunications service to every nook and corner of the country,” he said, adding: “But we can't say when the work will be completed as different external factors like road connectivity, weather, among others, are affecting our work.”

NT has already started providing telecommunications service to places like Tso Rolpa, Manang and Muktinath which are flocked by domestic as well as foreign tourists.

“Availability of telecommunication services will help tourism to flourish further,” Adhikari said, adding that NT has been using choppers to transport equipment to rural villages which do not have roads yet.

“Not only new areas, we are also working to erect BTS towers in areas where reception is very weak,” Adhikari said.

Likewise, Spokesperson Vaidya said that the process to award tender to expand fourth generation (4G) service is in the last leg. If everything goes as per the plan, NT customers outside Kathmandu and Pokhara will be able to use 4G service very soon, she added.

The state-owned telecommunication service provider has 10.48 million GSM users.

 
• nepal telecom
 
• base transceiver station
 
• quality telecommunications