Finally, after almost three years of the initial launch of 4G LTE in the country, Nepal Telecom brings a 4G network to an additional 32 more cities covering all the 7 provinces. Nepal Telecom first announced the availability of 4G in 1800 MHz with 3 frequency bands back in January 2017. According to NT, this service is in-between 4G and 5G speed, hence they claim it to be 4.5G, the claim also mentions that for the first time in Nepal they are providing VoLTE (Voice over LTE) supporting HD voice quality between the callers in 4G network.
Nepal Telecom had an ambitious project of extending 4G within a year when selected ZTE for the Core network extension and CCSI for Radio Access network last year. Now, NT covers all metropolis, sub metropolis and major municipal including densely populated cities in the country.
4.5G VoLTE Speed of Nepal Telecom
The NT official claims that the initial test speed of 4G in Nepal Telecom LTE network to be greater than 2Mbps and hence are calling it to be 4.5G.
In reality, 4G LTE broadband is about 10-12 times faster than 3G with an average download speed of 35Mbps but there are plentiful of examples with 4G networks globally reaching almost 100Mbps speed with better carrier aggregation and MIMO technologies in LTE Advanced.
Nepal Telecom has not mentioned it to be LTE-A (or LTE Advanced) but 4.5G – the hybrid between 4G and 5G networks in the country. HD voice call will automatically be supported and enabled for users in VoLTE range of the telecom network.
4G available cities of Nepal Telecom
As of now, the 4G network of Nepal Telecom is available in the following areas covering more than 50 cities and towns in the country.
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5G Readiness in Nepal
Nepal Telecom also plans to install 6 thousand more micro towers (shouldn’t they be calling nano cells?) in highly populated cities and city centers for better coverage and availability of the 4G network connectivity. With this extension and availability of 4.5G, Nepal Telecom is readying itself toward the global adoption of the futuristic 5G deployment. Perhaps, we might need to wait for the maturity of 5G availability globally before it enters Nepal.
Nepal Telecom claims to launch ambitious 4.5G VoLTE in 32 cities of 7 provinces in 800MHz radio band whereas previously 4G available cities Pokhara and Kathmandu will continue to work in 1800MHz 4G radio band spectrum.
NT claims to have 4g LTE experience extended for Digital Economy in Nepal with a nationwide 4G LTE network with better coverage, high-speed Internet, faster upload and download in 50 cities. Nepal Telecom users can activate 4G LTE just by dialing *444# from their 4G enabled smartphones.
The other 2 telcos namely, Ncell and Smart Telecom, also have been providing 4G LTE service in the country for almost as long as Nepal Telecom.
4G LTE in Nepal: Everything you need to know about NTC and Ncell 4G.
