The company, which owns 80 percent stake in Ncell, is planning to invest more than $100 million in 2011. Samiksha Koirala of Republica talked with Tero Kivisaari, president of Business Area Eurasia of TeliaSonera, about the recent launch and Ncell´s future plans. Excerpts: [break]
What made TeliaSonera to invest in the Khumbu region where the population is one of the lowest in the country?
The first reason is the number of trekkers and mountaineers that visit the area, and second is the local population because our target is to have wider coverage. The other reason is to get the attention of people from across the world by saying that we have launched 3G service from the base camp of Mt Everest. It was definitely a tough task and took some time, but we are proud that we have done it.
What were the challenges that you faced while setting up base stations at such a high altitude?
There were some challenges due to the geographical reasons but those were not big ones. Electricity was an issue there, but we managed to support the base station there with generators and solar panels. To get the base station connected to rest of the network was another challenging task, but we have already overcome it.
What are your future plans for Nepal?
Keep going with the network with better quality is our primary focus. We plan to increase number of subscribers and hopeful to be the market leader in Nepal within the next five years. We are working on to provide affordable services and affordable handsets so that people with low income can also enjoy the Ncell service and get benefited.
What attracted TeliaSonera to invest in Nepal?
We are used to working in the Eurasia region with emerging markets. Nepal is an emerging market and we felt that the country is in need of investment. We also felt there is some room for our expertise. Besides, we wanted to be example for other investors to invest in the tourism and hydropower sectors here.
Being a foreign company, did you face any problems in Nepal?
There are problems everywhere. But, by now we have learnt how to operate in Nepal. Mobile telecommunication sector is quite healthy here and I hope it stays the same.
How is the market responding to the newly launched Ncell Connect and BlackBerry services?
We are getting overwhelming response and are hopeful that Ncell Connect will reach to a larger number of people. Regarding BlackBerry services, we have got good publicity out of it. I am happy that Nepal´s regulator and the government allowed us to launch the service. I am hopeful that the BlackBerry services have lot to offer to Nepal´s government and non-government sector.
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