Chinese company Huawei to manage NT network

Kathmandu,May 7 – Chinese company Huawei Technologies Limited will manage the GSM and CDMA network of Nepal Telecom (NT) across the country. Huawei will also handle the network expanded by another Chinese company ZTE Corporation.

Huawei has got the contract for 10 million GSM lines–the largest in the history of telecom services in the country. The equipment of ZTE, that installed 3.50 million mobile lines in 2007, have become old. NT has handed over the network management across the country to Huawei after it was awarded the new contract. ZTE is a Chinese government owned company while Huawei is a private company. NT has given priority to Huawei following problems in the network expanded by ZTE. Huawei has been selected in all tenders of NT in the last and current fiscal years for proposing a cheaper rate in comparison to the competitors. Huawei has also won the contract for 2 million IP CDMA and CDMA lines.

NT has been claiming that the quality of mobile services will improve after expansion of 10 million GSM lines. Conceding that NT has not been able to provide quality in its mobile services Managing Director Amar Nath Singh claimed that the quality will improve once the network expanded by ZTE will be converted by Huawei. NT aims to distribute SIM cards for the 10 million GSM project by mid-June.