KATHMANDU, March 6: Ncell - the first private telecommunication service provider of the country -- has seen an influx in data use by 130 percent. 

According to a report of Axiata, the investor of Ncell, the total data use of Ncell in 2017 was 27.7 million GB compared to 12 million GB a year earlier.

Data consumption increased significantly after the introduction of Fourth Generation (4G) Internet facility in June, according to the report.

Ncell has extended 4G facility to 21 cities across the country. 

Increased data consumption in 2017 helped Ncell to post 17.9 percent revenue growth. Data contributes to 19 percent of the total profit of the operator.

According to the report, 44 percent of Ncell consumers bought various data packs introduced by the company.

Similarly, number of Ncell subscribers increased by 1.5 million, a growth of 10.9 percent, according to the report. With this, number of subscribers in Ncell network has increased to 16.43 million. 

However, Ncell's total revenue fell slightly to Rs 58.54 billion in 2017, compared to Rs 58.65 billion a year earlier.

The growing use of online telecommunication applications has affected the overall revenue of Ncell as the company's revenue through international calls fell by 19.6 percent. Mobile applications like Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, and Imo along with Facebook Messenger can be used to make and receive international calls.  

International telecommunications used to contribute 30 to 40 percent of total revenue of telecommunication service providers some years ago.

The report shows that 52 percent of Ncell subscribers use smartphones.

 
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