Nepal Telecom to set up a DTH hub

Nepal Telecom (NT) is planning to provide earth station service to direct-to-home (DTH) operators, local media reported on Thursday.

According to The Kathmandu Post daily report, the state-owned telecom giant is working to set up a shared DTH hub in the capital Kathmandu to make the service available within six months.

According to NT, it will invest an estimated 2.75 million U.S. dollars in the world class hub station.

"The NT board has asked us to prepare the specifications for leasing satellite transponders," said Birendra Prasad Pradhan, manager of the NT's Satellite Service Directorate.

NT's move has come when two DTH operators, Satellite Nepal and Dish Media Network, are at the final stage of start services under the brand names Home TV and Dish Nepal respectively. NT aims to offer hub services to three-four DTH operators.

There are an estimated 2 million television households in the country. Each operator needs to create a subscriber base of 150, 000 to survive. They can expect heavy competition from cable operators who are adding more channels with digital quality, said television experts.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has given permission to nine firms to operate DTH services in the country.

Source: Xinhua