Nepal Doorsanchar Company or Nepal Telecom (NTC), a state-owned telecommunications company, is set to shut down WiMAX internet service based on wireless technology later this year after failing to succeed commercially.
"As fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service and LTE networks expand rapidly, the national telco doesn’t see giving continuity to a commercially unviable wireless service," NTC said in a press release.
NTC launched its WiMAX service in November 2012 to provide connectivity in rural areas of the country, using 30MHz of frequencies in the 2300MHz spectrum band. But, following the development of alternative technologies, as well as cross-border interference from Indian telco Jio in the south of the country, the service is now limited to a few mountainous regions.
According to figures published by the National Telecommunications Authority (NTA), only 18,558 households were subscribed to NT’s WiMAX service in mid-March 2021.
NTC plans to sign an agreement for transferring customers to WiMAX service by September and shut down the WiMAX service by December. Telecom had started providing internet service in the villages through WiMAX technology on October 12, 2008.
