Nepal to install GSM 1800 system in Kathmandu

Nepal Telecom (NT) is installing Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) 1800 system in the capital Kathmandu Valley to upgrade the quality of cell phone service, an official at NT said here Friday.

"In a bid to upgrade the quality of cell phone service and to be able to distribute additional mobile phone lines in the Kathmandu Valley, the government own NT is installing GSM 1800 system in the capital within the next six months," Lok Raj Sharma, director of New Service Directorate of NT, told reporters.

A Chinese telecommunication equipment supplier, Huawei, has already been appointed to supply and install the new system, Sharma said.

"We believe the entire process of installing and optimizing the network will be completed in the next four to six months," Sharma noted.

Installation of the new system would provide a base for NT to distribute 400,000 additional mobile phone lines in the valley.

"Although we have not decided on how many pre-paid and post- paid lines would be distributed from this cluster, most of them would definitely be pre-paid lines," he added.

NT is currently delivering cell phone service in valley using two of its GSM 900 systems. Using these, it has already distributed around 600,000 mobile phone lines in the valley, of which around 500,000 are pre-paid and the rest are post-paid.

Source: Xinhua