Affordable Broadband with Adequate Quality throughout Nepal Presentation at: Workshop on: How to engage in broadband policy & regulatory processes, Pokhara 18th Feb, 2019 By: Ajay Kumar Kadel Ananda Gautam Babu Ram Dawadi Sapana Rijal

Outline Introduction Problem Statements ICT & Broadband Policy-State-of-the-art Broadband coverage – current status Broadband pricing-Affordability Broadband Quality of Service Indicators - Nepal Broadband Deployment Initiatives - Nepal Recommendations

Introduction Typical factors of Nepal challenging Broadband Expansion Diverse Demography, Difficult Terrain Transportation Challenges, low literacy & many more. Maintainability, operability and sustainability of the ICT base services at the rural is more challenging. SRC: Google images for Nepal

Introduction Contd… Access network, ICT and energy are the major pillars of socio-economic development for Nepal. 80% households reside on rural Nepal, But less than 1% rural households have fixed internet facility [1] Fix & mobile broadband: 12.75% & 43.66% (as of Oct. 2018, NTA MIS) Recently Government is utilizing more than 13 Million USD to expand ICT infrastructure all over covering Rural Nepal via Fiber, Wireless/Satellite Communication network Broadband: defined with 512Kbps at Nepal but vary with country specific

Problem Statements ICT/Broadband Deployment throughout Nepal is quite challenging ISPs are mostly urban centric, Sustainability issues, low purchasing power of Rural Peoples. With the lowering broadband price in cities, service to rural Nepal is still not affordable, quality and reliability issues Government subsidization is required on content, connection, coverage and infrastructure Require strong implementation, monitoring and evaluation

ICT/Broadband Policy: State-of-the-art Long Term Policy of Information and Communication Sector-2003 Telecom Policy-2004 Universal Access, Universal Service Obligation, Open Licensing, Liberalization Recent amendment: uncovered rural areas will be made connected via available media to expand broadband network with infrastructure sharing and connect school, connect community like project, Use RTDF IT Policy-2010 (Replaced ITpolicy-2000) Build knowledge base society and industries

ICT/Broadband Policy Contd.. ICT Policy 2015 Knowledge based, PPP, Universal Access, Tech. Neutrality, 2020 Targets At least 75% digitally literate 90% people will have access to broadband service. 100% Nepalese will have access to internet 80% citizens will get online services Energy Policy – NPC Report [2] It is estimated that approximately 30% of the total population, mostly in remote villages live in darkness. Only 60% of the whole population has access to grid electricity grid extension plan has been designed and planned to be constructed by 2023 transmission lines are designed to be constructed by 2028 Are we achieving the targets?

Global Trend in Broadband Connection Mobile Broadband Subscription in 2017 Fixed Broadband Subscription in 2017 Source: ITU Facts and Figure 2017

Broadband Growth Trend in Nepal Source: NTA MIS Reports

Broadband Service Providers in Nepal Telecom Operators Nepal Telecom ADSL, Fiber To The Home(FTTH), Mobile Broadband(WiMAX, EVDO, 3G, 4G) Ncell Pvt Ltd 3G and 4G Smart Telecom Pvt Ltd 4G Internet Service Providers(ISP) Cable, FTTH, Radio Modem/Wi-Fi

3G Aired Coverage - NT 4G at KTM & PKH only 3G Planned Coverage - NT

NCELL Coverage (src: ncell.com.np)

Broadband Pricing – Major 3 ISPs of Nepal

Global Broadband Pricing per Month- Map Src: https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/deals/worldwide-price-comparison/ Fix broadband operator (price sub basket) of Nepal is least (2.9) but mobile broadband is highest in South– Thavisha Gomage

Price of Broadband Data (1GB mobile prepaid) as % of GNI per capita, 2017 (https://a4ai.org/mobile-broadband-pricing-data/) Bangladesh 2.24% 2.66% 3.63% Cambodia 1.95% 2.11% 3.36% Nepal 4.41% 4.60% 9.14% Myanmar 1.47% Data not available. 5.90% Sri Lanka 0.40% 0.43% 0.48% Thailand 1.31% 1.19% 2.27%

Broadband QoS Indicators Internet and Data serive QoS set by NTA Service Activation and Provisioning – >=95% to activate service within 4hrs over a month Successful data download rate: >=80% successful downloads in the attempts for download in a month Successful data upload rate : >=75% successful uploads in the attempts for upload in a month Throughput: >=75% of speed at per SLA Data Latency : <=250MS (average in a month) Packet Loss, Network Availability, Jitter – Not included

QoS Measurement [3] Results show most of the ISPs fall well below the advertised rates

RTT test from Jalmahal Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.590] (c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Users\baburd>ping google.com Pinging google.com [172.217.160.46] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 172.217.160.46: bytes=32 time=103ms TTL=51 Reply from 172.217.160.46: bytes=32 time=224ms TTL=51 C:\Users\baburd>ping cprsouth.org Pinging cprsouth.org [64.90.52.4] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 64.90.52.4: bytes=32 time=344ms TTL=50 Reply from 64.90.52.4: bytes=32 time=354ms TTL=50

Broadband Initiatives Telecom Operators’ Initiatives Building high speed backbone network: Microwave Radio and Optical Building broadband access network: FTTH, Cable and Wireless services 3G/4G Competitive tariff and consumer focus plan and programs Internet Service Providers Initiatives Building fiber based local loop connection Providing FTTH service bundled with TV and internet Providing internet service by Wi-Fi and Radio Modem Developing backbone network infrastructures

Telecommunication Infrastructure to support broadband deployment in Nepal Backbone Network Infrastructures East West Optical Fiber Network North West Optical Fiber Network OPGW and ADSS Optical Fiber to connect 57 Districts Midhill optical fiber network infrastructure (work in progress) Microwave Networks VSAT Networks Cross border Connectivity Nepal India Cross border Bhairahawa, Birgunj and Biratnagar Point of Interconnection with Indian Operators: Bharti Airtel, TATA Communications and BSNL Nepal China Cross Border Rasuwagadhi Point of Interconnection to connect with China Telecom Access Network infrastructures FTTH WiMAX Mobile 3G and 4G

Running Broadband Projects under RTDF [4] SN Name of Operator Contract Amount Targeted Area Districts 1 Nepal Telecom 4,880,000,000.00 Backbone Province 1, 2, 3 2 United Telecom Ltd 2,010,000,000.00 Backbone Province 4 & 5 3 Smart Telecom Pvt. Ltd 3,009,400,000.00 Backbone Province 6 & 7 4 Subisu Cable Net. Pvt. Ltd. 207,080,318.40 Earthquake affected Area Makwanpur, Gorkha, Dhading 5 Mercantile Comm. Pvt. Ltd. 235,000,000.00 Okhaldhunga, Ramechhap, Dolakha, Sindhuli

>13.6M USD Total Disbursement 15,133,540,768.40 SN Name of Operator Contract Amount Targeted Area Districts 6 Nepal Telecom 210,000,000.00 Earthquake affected Area Sindhupalchowk, Kavre, Nuwakot, Rasuwa 7 World Link Pvt. Ltd. 207,907,500.00 Karnali Package A Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Jumla 8 World Link Pvt. Ltd 246,579,480.00 Karnali Package B Kalikot, Rolpa, Jajarkot, Rukum 9 Subisu Cable Net. Pvt. Ltd. 314,477,737.50 Province 2 Package A Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusa, Mahottari 10 384,495,732.50 Province 2 Package B Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa 11 Mercantile Comm. Pvt. Ltd. 208,000,000.00 3 District Province 1 Taplejung, Sankhuwasabha, Solukhumbu 12 Vianet Comm. Pvt. Ltd. 260,200,000.00 4 District Province 7 Package A Doti, Darchula, Baitadi, Dadeldhura 13 260,400,000.00 3 District Province 7 Package B Achham, Bajhang, Bajura 14 200,000,000.00 3 District Province 6 Surkhet, Salyan, Dailekh 15 Remaining 7 Package 2,500,000,000.00 Remaining other 7 package for the rest of districts   Total Disbursement 15,133,540,768.40 >13.6M USD

RTDF distribution share for different package to operators of Nepal [4]

Recommendations Recommendations Stakeholders/Initiations Subsidization not only to infrastructure but also to Content like provide .NP contents free of access throughout Nepal. Make government service information freely access for Rural People Policy and Subsidy by Government, Regulator Implementation by Content providers/ISPs/Telcos Meet like 2020 ICT/BBP targets Create User APP that simply automatically benchmarks the QoS parameters and send to regulator’s Cloud upon user’s activation. Regulator App Development, shall be implemented within 6 months Set minimum CPE standards for internet connectivity at enterprises like hotels and public institutions, EoL/EoS Management. Encouragement to timely technology migration Type approve/Specification by Regulator Implementation by Operators/Enterprises Research on current status and develop standards & policy decision Recommendations

Recommendations Stakeholders/Initiations Regulator Monitor QoS Parameters regularly with its own measurement tools/techniques and cross verify with operator’s data – Real time Traffic Monitoring Regulator Implement under lawful intercept NTA has already initiated a project for this Spectrum Management/Re-farming/Low cost TV Whitespace band for rural broadband Policy by Regulator Implementation by Operator Strong implementation, monitoring and evaluation on initiated projects – RTDF utilization, connect school-connect community

References [1] CBS Report, Statistical Pocket Book Nepal (2016). Available online: www.cbs.gov.np. [2] National Planning Commission Report, “Universalizing clean energy in Nepal: a plan for sustainable distributed generation and grid access to all by 2022,” 2017 [3] NK Karn, Z. Hongli & M Shafiq, “Measuring Broadband Internet Performance in Nepal: A Comparative Study”, Procedia Computer Science 107 ( 2017 ) 64 – 69 [4] National Planning Commission Report. Status Measure and Proper Utilization of Rural Telecommunication Disbursement Fund (RTDF) towards Digital Rural Nepal. (2018)

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