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Short note: Telecom development in Nepal since 1913

Short answer

Nepal telecom began with a 1913 line in Kathmandu, manual exchange in 1935, automatic exchange in 1962, NTC in 1975 and Sanga earth station in 1982. The 1997 Telecommunication Act created NTA, opened private operation; GSM began 1999, Nepal Telecom formed 2004, private GSM 2005, 3G 2007, 4G 2017, with fibre and FTTH expanding.

Write a short note on development of telecommunication sector in Nepal starting from 1913 A.D.

Telecommunication in Nepal began in 1913 AD, when the first telephone line was set up in Kathmandu for the Rana administration. A manual exchange of about 100 lines followed in 1935. In the 1950s HF radio links joined district headquarters and other countries, and the telephone service was opened to the public.

The first automatic exchange (about 1,000 lines) came to Kathmandu in 1962, followed by telex and trunk links. Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) was established in 1975 and built the Sanga satellite earth station (1982), a microwave backbone and digital exchanges in the 1980s–90s.

The Telecommunication Act 2053 (1997) created the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (1998) as regulator and opened the sector to private operators. NTC launched GSM mobile (1999) and became Nepal Doorsanchar Company Ltd (Nepal Telecom) in 2004; private GSM (Mero Mobile, now Ncell) started in 2005, with UTL and ISPs adding competition.

3G arrived in 2007, followed by 4G LTE (2017); a national optical fibre backbone and FTTH have spread broadband, and mobile phones now reach most of the population.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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