Manisha Balami

February 8: With the rise in use of smartphones, more than half of the population of Nepal has access to internet at their fingertips. The latest Management Information System (MIS) report published by Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) shows that 23.92 million has access to internet.

Of the total internet users, 17.57 million are using mobile data. Meanwhile, 6.1 million users are using broadband and 226,662 are using wireless internet service.

Min Prasad Aryal, spokesperson of NTA, states that the 4G expansion by telecom service providers has helped to increase its mobile broadband users. “4G expansion in urban as well as rural areas has resulted in a surge in the use of internet,” he said, adding fund from Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF) has been granted to the internet service providers to expand the internet service in remote areas of the country.

According to the telecommunication authority’s data, 11.9 million users are Nepal Telecom subscribers. Among them, 2.04 million are 4G users while 8.43 million are using 3G service of NTC. In the meantime, 6.75 million are using broadband service of Ncell. Among them, 2.67 million are using 3G services while 4.08 million are using 4G service. Likewise, 199,761 are using 4G service of SmartCell.

Aryal further says that the internet consumption has also increased after people were locked down in their houses to avoid coronavirus. As everything was done virtually, the use of internet has increased during the lockdown period. “This trend will increase further in the coming days as digital transactions have also increased and the use of data will also grow exponentially,” said Aryal.