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.

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GSM network shutdown in Nepal !!

Now that 4G is here in Nepal, in two cities Kathmandu and Pokhara, people from all parts of the country are demanding 4G in their area. As of now, soft launch of 4G is made by Nepal Telecom available only to Postpaid users. Very soon, they are launching it to Prepaid users. 

So, there are 3 networks, viz: 2G, 3G and 4G services in GSM technology family, available to the customers. Currently in Nepal, 4G is a data only technology where voice is being provided through CSFB (fall back) to legacy 2G, 3G networks. But some operators abroad have already deployed VoLTE for voice calls through LTE network.

There is a big question like why do you need such three types of network to the subscribers for same kind of services, also when better quality data and voice services are available through latest technologies. It is not only good quality and advanced services that we get from new technologies, but these technologies are also more efficient in many terms to the customer and the operators. For customers, you can get high speed data and HD quality voice at the same rate or even cheaper. For operators, the spectrum efficiency is very high for the latest technologies. Much relief to the operators as they can also maximize the usage of spectrum by re-farming the existing frequency chunk, along with the huge cut off in the time to market for 4G and the total cost of ownership. By that way, they can also launch the latest technologies without getting additional spectrum from the regulator (lengthy auction process). This is also what was done by Nepal Telecom to launch 4G in 1800 MHz, coexisting with GSM network.

4G in the world.

4G can also provide 100s of Mbps speed with the non-continuous spectrum and  nearly 2 billion subscribers are currently with 4G out of 8 billion connected users worldwide. This is from around 500 LTE networks in around 164 countries. As per GSMA, the number of LTE networks and countries is known to grow high in 2017.

GSM shutdown in other parts of the world.

Operators in several countries have already started shutting down their GSM network to use the same spectrum for 4G or 3G network. Mostly used frequencies for 2G are 900 MHz, 1800 MHz (a.k.a DCS) but there are also other rarely used frequencies like 850 and 1900 MHz mostly in America. In Nepal, GSM is being provided by 900 MHz and 1800 MHz only.

Telstra, the largest operator in Australia is the first one to bid farewell to GSM network in 2016. Other operators in Australia Like Optus, Vodafone are also following suit in 2017. Earlier Telstra  shutdown their CDMA 850 MHz to use it for 3G network.

The latest to join the GSM shutdown is AT&T of USA, who termed it as 2G or GSM sunset. It is done in the second week of January 2017. 

Three operators of Singapore, namely Singel, StarHub and M1 had jointly announced the GSM shutdown date to be April 2017. Many operators have either announced the date for the shutdown or they have stopped extending GSM coverage. As per some technology experts, GSM will stay till 2020 when 5G networks becomes available. Some European Operators have quite interestingly told to shutdown 3G before 2G.

How it is possible?

The shutdown is possible as their 3G and 4G is made more ubiquitous like around 90 percent coverage. So, GSM subscribers got down heavily with the entrance of 3G and 4G network. They also managed the easy handset update, either free or at nominal cost. For us in Nepal, it is a daunting challenge but it is not impossible. So the popular phrase of "GSM is here to stay", will not be valid in the long term here for Nepal.

Shutdown in Nepal

The best part is the regulator, Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) had already started providing  technology neutrality license in some specified bands but later all spectrum bands can be operated for 3G, 4G technologies and beyond. It is due to this term, that Nepal Telecom operated 4G in 1800 MHz. Now it is also possible to launch either 3G or 4G in the 900 MHz band. It now solely depends on how the operators migrate their customers to more efficient technologies to pave the way for 2G network closure. In Nepal CDMA shutdown can happen within three years as there is no further evolution and people are also opting GSM over CDMA.

The official shutdown of the network may be overnight but the preparation to the shutdown along with the migration is rather a slow or gradual activity. With proper preparation and migration plan, they can announce the shutdown to be done in some years time and let people chose other technology before the shutdown.

Some people are skeptic of the coverage and availability of mobile network in their area after the shutdown. As they complain only poor GSM network is available for voice in there and ask what may happen if that technology is also gone!!! So that's why the new technology availability must be ensured along with the update of their devices.

Device Ecosystem: 

Most operators abroad need not worry about the devices available in the market. As with their huge no. of customer base and their partnership with device vendors, they can coordinate to make devices available as per their requirement of spectrum combination. That thing is not easy for us due to small market compared to others. As many operators have already reused the frequency bands of GSM, such devices are readily available in the market

M2M services:

There will be much impact on M2M services with the shutdown as majority of such devices use cheap GSM/ GPRS module for the small data connectivity. For the upgrade, first it will be costly for the module upgrade. So some operators mostly Europeans may opt 3G shutdown before 2G, till LTE-M or NB-IoT or EC-GSM (for small data connectivity) gets matured there. It is not a big deal for much, as the numbers are very few and they can make use of 3G, 4G devices for the same.

Better coverage and Receiver sensitivity

As mostly GSM operates in 900 MHz in the rural areas, usage of latest technologies with the Sub 1GHz spectrum is more advantageous due to better radio characteristics  for a country like us with more rural areas in Plain, Hilly and Mountainous regions. Also the receiver sensitivity is more high with latest technologies, reaching out to more areas even in the same spectrum as compared to 2G.

The data usage in Nepal is increasing with more video & multimedia contents. Also the demands for broadband is more high in rural areas and also HD voice quality is possible with efficient VoLTE. Using Spectrum that are currently operational for GSM, the operators here in Nepal can timely and easily cater the increasing demand of broadband coverage in all parts of the country. What it requires, is a proper plan for migration of the subscribers and the availability of either 4G or 3G in all areas of the country. And I don't see it happening before 2020.

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Black Friday sale to come to Nepal too.

November 5, 2016: Black Friday, is a popular day of the year after the Thanks Giving day, in which most of the retailers both online and offline offer heavy discount in the price of the products. People these days save their money for this event as they will get unbelievable offer for some products in Black Friday. It is an exciting day for the shopping maniacs, and is observed officially in U.S., Canada, U.K, Mexico, but also increasingly being popular in other parts of the world. I have known the day from some years as I found very cheap price for the products in my bucket list and is not in any way available here in Nepal. I have asked my brother, relatives and friends to look for the products that I was willing to buy but it goes sold out fast. So I wish if I could get those products and offers here in Nepal with such amazing price. Till this date, I have not known the black friday sale to come to Nepal in medium or large scale. But this year, Kaymu (the online shopping website) has announced the first ever Black Friday sale in Nepal. Where you can get quality products at an unbeatable price from the top brands. It is known that there will be offers up to 75 percent off on electronics, Fashion, home and living products. The offer will start from November 25th.

Lets see what kinds of products and offers will be found in Kaymu.com.np website. Since it has started this kind of sale, others are also known to follow suit which will be a great thing for all the shopping maniacs out there. As it comes with Chaos in some part of the world, lets wish there will not be any such in our country.
Kaymu is putting lots of guess and win contest in its Facebook page for the promotion of its Black Friday Event. It gives us an impression that this Black Friday in Nepal will be a big one.

I will update more news on Black Friday in Nepal, as it comes.
Do visit their website and their app on the day November 25th Friday and buy the offers available before it gets out of stock.

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Comedy program Twakka tukka to return

August 24, 2016: If you are of my age who grow up laughing with initial phase of comedy serials in Nepal, then you definitely know the TV program "Twakka Tukka" in Nepal Television: the one and only television channel in Nepal then. Most of the comedy actors now popular in Nepal have come to light from the same program Twakka Tukka. The same program is now known to come back as Twakka Tukka returns. Dinesh DC, the original creator of the program is also known to make it come back. In a Gaijatra special Kantipur FM program where "Awaz ko duniya ko Sathi" ( Friend of Audio World) Dinesh DC revealed the return back of the popular show twakak tukka. Talking to different comedy actors in Nepal, who are also staging a program named "Tite Jire" Gaijatra program every year, Dinesh DC hinted of the show to come back with the old and new actors.

Comedy actors like Dipak Raj Giri, Jitu Nepal, Daman Rupakheti, Shivahari Poudel made debut entrance to the television through that Show. Twakka tukka used to include several Chutkilas of that time, which was very popular among Nepalese. We used to have a great fun time watching the show.

It is not known from when the program will be on-aired and on which TV channel. The format of the program is also not known but it could follow the original one.

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1974 AD releases their new album "Hazar Sapana".

Aug 05, 2016: Update: The album "Hazar Sapana" is released today in a program in the capital and it is available for download in their official website (which will be available once you like the Facebook page). But there may be some server error (temporarily unavailable and resource limited) to download the songs on Friday, as thousands of people are trying to download. If you cannot wait to listen the songs, you can listen it on their official Youtube channel for all of the songs in the album, Click here.
Here is the list of songs in the album Hazar Sapana.
1. Saniko
2. Bagdai Gareko
3. Chaya
4. Timi Mero ma Timro
5. Pathayi deu na
6. Hazar Sapana
7. Salghari
8. Aru Kaalo Rel ko
Aug 04, 2016: 1974 AD, one of the most popular rock bands in Nepal and my favorite one, is going to release their next album on Friday. The album is entitled as "Hazar Sapana" and is the first album after their new line up. The band has added some young artists like Rohit John Chettri and Prajwwal Mukhiya after the exit of founders like Firoj Syangden and Adrian Pradhan. Firoj Syangden is currently living in US with new musical journey whereas Adrain Pradhan has gone solo and have already released a new album. The new line up of 1974 AD  has Manoj KC on Guitar, Sanjay Shrestha on drums, Nirakar Yakthumba on bass, Rohin John Chetri on Vocals and Guitar, Prajwal Mukhiya on Vocals and keys, Subash on trumpet and Pratik on trombone. 

According to Manoj Kumar KC, the whole of their album will be available for download from their official website www.1974ad.com.np on Friday which is already showing the countdown for the album release. The album is known to contain 8 songs which we can expect to be slow rock, ballads and fast songs.  Some of the songs are folk tunes and patriotic songs. I cannot wait to download and listen the whole album when it will be released on August 5, 2016 Friday. I have been their fan since my teen age time. I still remember the day when I bought the "Samjhi Baschu" album cassette and I was very much enthralled to listen it loud. Technology has changed a lot from the cassette era to now a digital era and people here in Nepal prefer listening music online other than buying it. That may be the reason to make it available free of cost to the listeners. We can also expect a new music video for the title track "Hazar Sapana".

Through their official Facebook, the band has written the following about their latest album:

"All of us have a thousand dreams. Some we manage to give life, the rest is left shattered. Picking up the pieces of our broken dreams and still braving the world with a thousand more is what makes our lives broken but beautiful. It is what makes us human. A thousand dreams crushed, and yet a thousand dreams to fulfill. We are a mosaic of tragedies and triumphs. Our songs are an extension of heartbreaks and happiness; our new album an amalgamation of it all".

Here is the album cover of "Hazar Sapna", which is designed by V-Chitra and Swooroop Nhasiju.

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