According to the officials of NT, they are in the final stage of upgrading the CDMA network to the IP-based network in order to launch “Sky-Pro” service by mid-January. [break]
“We have successfully migrated the billing system under convergent billing,” the official said that once other services are also linked under convergent billing, NT customers will be able to pay their bills through a single counter and single bill.
Currently under CDMA network, the operator is offering Evolution Data Optimized (EVDO) in the brand name of Skyphone and the service is available in the capital and few cities. The upgraded version which will offer data speed up to 3.1 Mbps will be called Skypro and will be made available across the country.
Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, deputy managing director of NT said that under the first phase the service will be available in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Pokhara, Nepalgunj, Dhangadi and the areas surrounding these cities.
“The complete upgrading across the country will be completed within a year of time,” he said after which the operator will be able to offer the Skypro service throughout the country.
Although the operator was initially planning to launch the service by end of June, it was forced to postpone the plan after the operator failed to get desired result during the test calls.
Based on EVDO technology, NT is introducing Revision A (REV A) version that increase the peak data rate on the reverse and forward links enabling customers to send large files, high resolution photographs and videos from mobile devices. IP CDMA users will also be able to make VoIP calls, video telephony and others.
Bhattarai said, “The introduction of service will make wireless surfing easier and those living in rural areas can also have access to high speed internet.”
The service along with the handset is priced at Rs 13,500. He said the operator was going to provide R-UIM card worth Rs 300 along with a balance of Rs 200 every month for a year at that price. The charge for data will be on usage basis.
China-based telecommunication solutions provider Huawei had won the tender at $ 30 million for the implementation of the 2 million IP-CDMA project under two different phases.
The operator is planning to distribute one million IP CDMA lines in Eastern and Central Development region in and the remaining one million lines in Western, Mid-Western and Far Western Development region.
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