Nepal Telecom (NT) has pushed back its long-anticipated launch of WiMAX services to the consumer market by another three weeks, due to ongoing problems in sourcing appropriate customer premises equipment (CPE), such as USB dongles. NT unveiled its commercial WiMAX offer for business users back in November 2012 and promised that a residential offer would follow within a month, however its plans have been beset with issues arising from CPE procurement. eKantipur quotes NT spokesperson Rajesh Joshi as saying: ‘Procurement of CPEs delayed as the suppliers sought more time due to the Chinese New Year’s holidays’. The launch is now expected in mid-March.
Earlier this month, CommsUpdate reported NT managing director Amar Nath Singh as saying that the firm’s WiMAX service would be available to all of its customers within weeks. Currently, the telco’s wireless broadband service is limited to business users only, and restricted to main cities including Kathmandu Valley. However, the NT official says that during the current fiscal year the company intends to expand the availability of WiMAX to 1,800 Village Development Committees (VDCs) in 38 administrative districts of the country.