International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is going to help broadband internet connection in Nepal. ITU will formally help Nepal in capacity building and technical assistance to formulate national level policy framework of ICT for the people with disability project. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has focused its activities in Nepaldue to its target to empower Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
An ITU team consisting of Dr Eun-Ju Kim, director of Asia Pacific Regional for ITU, and Houlin Zhao, deputy secy general for ITU, has arrived in Nepal for a discussion with concerned stakeholders from the Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC). Stakeholders from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industries and experts are also expected to participate in the discussion, however there have been no formal notice from the Nepalese ministry side.
The discussion will focus on World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) target and some other technical issues, according to acting chairman Ananda Raj Khanal at Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA). Nepal has been also selected for broadband master plan of International Telecommunications Authority.
Nepal Telecom’s EVDO has been taken as a reference of wireless broadband internet initiation in Nepal, while Wlink has also support by providing various broadband connection. While we still are on the top lower list of internet speeds among other countries (see the comparison), broadband is highly sought for ICT4D and national economy. To this support, Nepal has also recently opened the market for highly anticipated 4G telecom services.
Considering the potential of wireless broadband technologies for deployment of affordable access, Korea Communications Commission in cooperation with International Telecommunications Union had launched a project on development of Master Plan for Wireless Broadband for four countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The objective of the master plan is to assist ITU Asia-Pacific countries for their affordable and sustainable wireless broadband. Samoa, Vietnam and Myanmar are selected for the master plan along with Nepal.
A portion published in The Himalayan Times, Nov 3rd, 2011.
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