“We are planning to invest around $120 million this year and the rest within 2010,” Dilip Singh, CEO of SNPL told journalists at a press meet in Kathmandu Sunday. “We will use this money to penetrate areas where 90 percent of the country’s population lives.” He, however, did not elaborate on the places where the company is planning to roll out its networks to. Services of Mero Mobile are currently available in 34 districts of the country.
SNPL also plans to invest money in introducing new value-added services like mobile banking and improving the service quality, Singh said. “We want to be the best,” he added.
With 1.7 million customers, SNPL is Nepal’s second largest mobile phone service provider. It plans to add 1.2 million more subscribers this year.
“SNPL is here for a long haul and our main priority is to become number one mobile company in Nepal,” Lars Nyberg, CEO and president of TeliaSonera said. TeliaSonera, a European telecom company active in Nordic and Baltic countries, has 80 percent stake in SNPL.
Nyberg also informed that the global financial crisis, which has also hit Europe hard, will not affect the firm’s plan to invest in Nepal. “Last year the company generated record profit. We have enough money,” he told journalists.
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