The decision comes less than a week after the company decided to relaunch the Hello Nepal brand.[break]
Speaking at a press meet organized in the capital, Ashmita Sumargi, chairman of Nepal Satellite Telecom, said the company will start GSM service in western and far-western region within nine months.
After the expansion, Hello Nepal will have coverage from Narayanghat to Kanchanpur. Its coverage at present is limited to 272 VDCs of mid-western region. As per the licensing condition of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), the operator must provide services in 272 VDCs of mid-western region in the first phase.
Meanwhile, NST on the day signed an agreement with Chinese vendor ZTE to expand its coverage in western and far-western development regions. NST Director Ajay Sumargi and Siu Lele, CEO of ZTE, signed the MoU for delivery and installation of equipment. As per the agreement, ZTE will make the service available by the end of March, 2013. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs 1.80 billion.
Sumargi said the company plans to launch the service nationwide in the third phase of expansion. “We hope to make the service available in eastern and central development soon,” he said. “We will serve people in rural areas offering low tariff.”
The company started operation in September 2009 and invested Rs 2 billion in the first phase.
According to the statistics of NTA, Hello Nepal has a total of 146,319 subscribers. Hello Nepal offers pre-paid and post-paid based on GSM technology.
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