Republica caught up with Golchha and talked about the ICT sector of the country. [break]
How do you think the use of ICT has changed over the years in Nepal?
The penetration of mobile and computer users has drastically deepened. Till some years ago, the use of laptop was limited to entrepreneurs and top professionals.
Consumers’ access to laptop and mobile is a major achievement of the ongoing IT revolution in the country. Nearly one-third of the country is actively using mobile phone while GPRS users are also growing.
Although the number of mobile phone subscribers has gone up, the phone is not being used beyond voice. What would you like to comment on this?
People here are taking ICT very seriously but there are different aspects of ICT yet to be explored. I agree communication technology should be used to create employment and opportunities.
This might not have happened with us in a big way, but it is happening. With ICT becoming an integral part of people’s daily life, people will eventually start exploring economic returns out of it. The voice service is already enabling farmers to become aware of market prices of their produce, empowering them to decide where and when they should like to sell their products. With education, awareness and expansion of the market, people will gradually shift beyond voice.
Despite the growth, we still rely so much on contents and applications from abroad. Do you think local contents can serve our purpose better?
Definitely. It’s important to localize content from one place to another as needs vary. This is more necessary in country like ours where a large number of population are not comfortable with English and foreign contents. But then, development of local contents will take time. I hope we will start seeing local contents developing in days ahead.
How do you think ICT sector is going to contribute to the country’s economy in days to come?
There is much we can do. The sector can bring about still better results in banking and other service sectors. For instance, the banking services, which are still limited to less than 30 percent of the total population, can expand through online banking. Mobile banking service has been launched but it’s not gained momentum so far. Business Process Outsourcing too can grow in a robust manner.
We are still to see software and hardware industries growing in an independent manner. Leave aside other sectors, the very government service is yet to make use of the ICT potentials to ease and speed up delivery of basic services. Use of ICT is already making economy efficient. With further expansion and development, the sector will make huge contribution to the economy.
What is Neoteric doing to bring grassroots people in touch with IT?
We have our dealers in remote areas, offering mobile phones starting from Rs 1,700. The Nokia phones targeted to rural people are made in such a way that it doesn’t get damaged with dirt or sweat. We will be introducing new range of Nokia phone called Aasha, which will be 3G enabled and cost Rs 8,000.
What should be done to expand the reach of Internet in the country?
There are very few things that the government sector can do, which includes huge investment in infrastructure like laying fiber optic. We should not expect much from the government as it has no magic stick. It is the private sector that should be offering the services based on topography.
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