Apr 1, 2017

Latest survey shows demand for 4G in Nepal

I may have been writing here & there but its been a while I have been active here. Its always better to be here in my personal blog to write whatever I like. Last article (not here), I had written about my preference for 4G being a better technology and the reasons for following the cellular evolution here in Nepal. While other parts of the world are going through the research, development and standardization cycle for 5G, Nepal is now in the verge of accepting 4G technology. This article, I am referring to the survey result done by Nepalitelecom.com, that shows the tendency of people for 4G in Nepal. The survey done during the 4G launch in Nepal, has got responses mainly from the major cities in Nepal.

From the survey result, It is interesting to know that the most of the city dwellers are awaiting 4G in their area. That does not mean there is no demand in other growing areas but it is in the cities that most operators start with. For some, the reasons for not expecting 4G is due to their doubt for the affordability of the service and the handsets. The voice service from VoLTE, found to be better quality than the legacy voice, also seems to allure customers for 4G.

Speed with 4G.

Currently, the maximum speed of 4G in Kathmandu and Pokhara is up to 30 Mbps speed with Nepal Telecom. The result shows that 42 percent of the people want 30 Mbps or more speed. If we see the result other way, more than 90 percent people now want speed greater than 5 Mbps. This is quite surprising to know such huge demand of people for the speed.

Price of 4G Handsets

Though there are quite a lot of ranges for the 4G handsets, their survey result shows that 43% people can afford Rs 25,000. That is they are most likely to spend near to Rs 25,000 for a 4G smartphone, which is perfect price for a mid ranger.

Which 4G data package seems good?

They also found out out the popular data package in 4G comes at 5GB (with 100 minutes free call) per month. As in India, the voice call with 4G is free of cost, after subscribing some data packages. The unlimited free data and calls from Jio  is also going to close in the end of March. Similar will be the case later here in Nepal, for free voice calls. But I doubt the true unlimited internet with 4G mobile to exist any time soon.

The survey result shows, 50% people want more than 2 GB data with 4G. Some even prefer unlimited internet which they believe can be provided by the telecom operators but others felt the operators limitation for true unlimited data service, considering resource restriction, high internet costs from abroad, high equipment costs and any network error resulting in worst experience. For the usage of 4G at their home, most people say unlimited 4G internet as the prerequisite. Others prefer free home device, free local content like videos, songs that can make 4G alternative to their current home broadband. The survey even showed the feasibility of providing television service with 4G, including broadcast or movies on demand.
As mentioned in the previous article, the latest cellular evolution is known to include the data connection to almost all devices. For this, majority of people here expressed their interest to connect home devices including house hold appliances, if there would be any such technology here.

Huge demand for 4G

Last time, I had mentioned of the people's eagerness, hesitation to acquire the 4G technology. Nepalitelecom survey shows the huge demand for 4G in city areas and the feasibility of several other services including Television in 4G here. This sort of result is likely to encourage operators for planning and investing more on 4G. This time, one operator is struggling to get the 4G license and another opting for better use of the spectrum. Other operators may also join the race but now they are still in infancy state for launching 4G due to insufficient infrastructure. Later the unavoidable competition will make people adapt to 4G.
If you want to read the whole survey result, do visit here.

0 comments

Post a Comment