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KATHMANDU, Nov 12: Nepal Telecom (NT) launched WiMAX (Worldwide Ineroperability for Microwave Access) amid a special function in Kathmandu on Monday.
The operator announced that the services at present was being launched only for the corporate clients. Under this, hospitals, educational institution, business firms, diplomatic missions and non-governmental organizations, can now instantly subscribe to the high-internet service.
Individual users, however, would have to wait for a month to subscribe the WiMAX service. "The service will be made available to individual users in and around Kathmandu valley in about a month, but still our focus customers are people in rural area and the corporate sector," NT Spokesperson Guna Keshari Pradhan said.
Under the WiMAX technology, the operator says it will provide minimum speed of 256 kbps.
NT further announced that it would be expanding WiMAX services to Pokhara, Bhairahawa and surrounding regions only in the second phase. The installation of the equipment for the services in those regions is at the final stage, said Pradhan.
“The service will be made available across the country within a year,” she added. The operator plans to distribute 200,000 lines within this period.
In order to access the service, customers will have to buy customer premises equipment (CPE) which comes in three types--outdoor, indoor and USB dongle. Outdoor CPE, which costs Rs 16,000, will enable the subscriber access signal within a range of 15 kilometers, while indoor device priced at Rs 16,000 will facilitate signal access within 5 kilometers range.
According to a senior NT official, once the service is made available to general public, the price of CPE would also decreased. “We have already signed agreement with vendors for the supply of CPE after which we will be bonding the package with the equipment,” the official said.
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