Ncell has become the market leader in GSM segment in a short span of time. What is your next target?
Mobile penetration is still below 50 percent of the total population. So, our first target would be to make it 100 percent. We have extended our network to cover about 85 percent of Nepal´s population, which is a major leap in the country´s telecommunication industry. And, we want to go further with it as well. We are continuously working on improving the connectivity and I believe our customers have been experiencing this.
Besides, being a market leader in GSM segment, we are also the largest Internet Service Provider, which is quite an achievement and also a motivation for us. We will continue to work towards improving quality and giving better network coverage.
Do you have confidence that Ncell has become the first choice?
Before answering this question, my question is: will any one make a call to PSTN from any other operator than Nepal Telecom (NT), and the reason for this is, it is cheaper. For us, we don´t offer PSTN lines and authority charges us additional cost for inter-connection fee. This is a cross subsidizing and makes the competition unfair. Regulator should look at such issues so that we could compete in a free way.
After being re-branded to Ncell, the company has been launching new services and products. What is new that is coming for customers in near future?
As always, we are continuously looking for the opportunities to introduce new services and products. But, the announcements will come in due time. Our customers can rest assured that they will always have something new and useful with Ncell.
Ncell was supposed to spend $ 100 million for 2011. How much of it has been spent?
We have invested more than the said figure in 2011. Over the past year, Ncell has made a major effort and dramatically improved its network quality. Our subscribers have increased tremendously. I have mentioned already about the network expansion. Building mobile communication infrastructure requires sizeable investment. Therefore, we are improving gradually.
We have a business plan and are acting in accordance with it. However, I believe that with our latest efforts we already have very good network quality and in-network connectivity. And, we are in continuous talks with our industry partners in Nepal and abroad to improve inter-network connectivity. Ncell´s network is built in accordance with the high standards of the global mobile communication industry and our shareholder TeliaSonera. We are now setting the international standard in Nepal.
How is your experience so far regarding doing business in Nepal? What do you think should be done so that we can get more multi-national companies and foreign investors in the country?
The biggest hindrance we have faced is the coordination between different government bodies with whom we have to deal. We have noticed that every such body has its own ways of operating. Provided that there was a common and well-defined ´modus operandi´ of such bodies, it would make things easier, which would end up in beneficial results for all concerned. I believe policies should be friendlier to attract more foreign investors, not the vice versa.
There is no limit that telecom in Nepal can benefit from our knowledge and experience. We are always eager and positive to share the knowledge.
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