How did Ncell achieve an award of Fastest connection providers?

 

Ncell's own Award.

Ncell Axiata Limited has received Nepal’s Fastest Mobile Network Award for January-June 2022 from Ookla, the global leader in mobile and broadband network intelligence. Ncell has been honored with this recognition based on the Speed Score the company achieved in its mobile download and upload speeds.

History of telecommunication in Nepal.

The history of Telecommunication in Nepal dates back to 1913 when the first telephone line was introduced in Kathmandu with an open-wire trunk between Kathmandu and Raxual (an Indian border town) in 1914. With the evolution of the services from the early days, we have reached a much-developed telecom market here in Nepal, along with the introduction of advanced technologies. Among them, Nepal Telecom (NTC) and Ncell are the only telcos that have nationwide mobile coverage.

Over the last decade, with the liberalization(losing restriction) policies of the Government of Nepal, the telecommunication business has significantly leaped and become easily available to the general public at affordable prices when the private sector started to challenge the government monopoly. Currently, Nepal Telecommunication (NTC) and N cell are the two main giant dominant players in the market.

Before jumping into the case study, let’s understand the history of telecommunication, the company's history dates back to when the first telecom service started in Nepal in 1973 B.S. with the government’s 91.5% of stake in the company while others are with the public and its employees. Although the Government has decided to sell some stake which is near ~30% of the company to a Telecom giant as a strategic partner (a relationship between two commercial enterprises, usually formalized by one or more business contracts.), significant results or development has not yet been achieved to date. expand 4G coverage to all 77 districts with more than 2000 towers.

Now People think what? despite being such a giant and monopoly company for such a long period how did Ncell win NTC in almost all aspects?

after 2004, Nepal Telecommunication got its competitor. on the basis of the telecommunication act, Spice Nepal came into service, which then started selling its sim cards called MERO MOBILE. This company came into action very aggressively with GSM mobile services but it was running out of funds, at the same time “Telia” buys its 60.4% stock in 2064. after which one of the most demanded sim cards suddenly disappeared from the market the reason behind this was that in 2066 the company changed its name to “Ncell” and its purpose in BOD was to become an international brand for which they segregate 1 billion USD for branding and advertising. as soon as they came into play they cover almost all the districts of Nepal with 3G service, not only that, they provided the best service to the people even in the Himalayas.

How did Ncell become so popular?

as we discussed earlier, it spends a chunk of money on advertising, where It provides

1. an attractive data package:- This starts with the ‘Get more on 4G offer’. In this offer, you’ll get a 100% 4G bonus and a 100% nighttime bonus. The very beginning package includes 105 MB combined (35MB all time+ 35MB 4G+ 35MB night) for Rs. 11.49. The highest package in this offer will provide you with 9GB combined (3GB+3GB+3GB) at Rs. 453.30.

2. cheaper call rate:- When you call Ncell to Ncell at night time, you’ll be charged Rs. 0.88 per minute. In the meantime, if you call within the network from NTC GSM pre-paid, you’ll be charged Rs. 1.50 per minute at peak hours (6 am to 10 pm) source-

3. ‘Mero plan’:- ‘Mero plan’. In this plan, the customer gets extra data for YouTube and the voice call rate is also decreased for Ncell to Ncell calls.

4. attractive unlimited plans:- You can get 5 AM to 5 PM unlimited talk time at Rs. 15.32 along with 720 Night SMS in the time-based pack. In the same pack, you can buy 35 minutes voice pack at Rs. 8.94 with 35 Night SMS valid for 24 hours from 5 AM to 5 PM. At the same amount, you can get 120 minutes night voice pack with a 120-night SMS.

5. attractive SMS plans:- Ncell provides 1000 on-network SMS packages at Rs. 24.26. NTC is behind in the SMS package too. You can get 20 SMS at Rs. 5 for 1 day. It provides 70 SMS for Rs. 15 valid for 7 days. The highest package is Rs. 60 for 300 SMS with 28 days validity. (very useful for business, they can use for business)

6. and last but not least, Ncell uses celebrities for advertising. you may think what is new about that but here are 3 things that happened when we use celebrities for advertising,

   • MEMORABILITY: Celebrities are excellent for grabbing people’s attention and, instantaneously, a campaign is more memorable because of a famous face on the screen.
   • ENDORSEMENT: The use of a famous face helps to influence the way consumers view a product. If a glamourous model or film star advertises a new moisturizer or fragrance, the customer subconsciously equates that product which the appearance or star quality of the celebrity. Customers relate the item to the fame and success of the celebrity, purchasing the product in the hope of emulating that to some degree.
   • STAR QUALITY: Celebrities have the ability to transfer their personal qualities onto a product. For example, a celebrity known for their edgy sensibilities may advertise a product in order to shape a new image for a brand.

adding to it it also provides home net wire-free, digital and value-added service, biz fiber broadband, biz plus plans, and more than other 100 international roaming services provided all across the country. On top of it, it is also doing partnerships with other forms of the company in order to provide services to its customers, for instance in the present day NCELL is collaborating with Viber where users don’t need to pay a single pane for the data packs. all the costs of the user are covered by Viber itself. by the time of Aug 18, 2022, It has the largest 4G coverage in the country, with more than 21 cities. 

How big the Ncell is?

As per the survey carried out in 2022, Ncell successfully makes its customers more than 1,67,60,000 and remained in its second position where a single user is consuming 3411.25 Mb per day. according to the data, NCELL is the third highest taxpayer company in Nepal in FY 2078/79 where it pays 7.79 BILLION. The race doesn't end here, NCELL spends more than 1 Arba 25 crores on the field of education, environment, and health. on top of that during the time of the pandemic it provides free SMS service and provides discounts on data services to its customers, similarly it also donated 9 Arba 70 crores to purchase equipment and vaccines for the Nepal Government. currently, Ncell has a direct staff of 543 and an indirect staff of 57 thousand.

some of the iconic AWARDs of the Ncell,

ASIAN TELECOM AWARDS 2022

GLOBAL BUSINESS OUTLOOK AWARD 2021

WORLD COMMUNICATION AWARDS 2021

TM FOTM 2021 CATALYST AWARDS

Remaining

Despite getting an award for highest taxpayer company, how did Ncell calm as fraud for not paying taxes?

• back in the day, Non-residential Nepali Mr. Upendra Mahato sold his 20% stock. so you may be thinking that story ends here? but but but the story start’s here, Upendra Mahato sold his stock whose valuation per stock was equal to 16k 5 hundred and 84 re, but he depict the cost per share 1 thousand and only pays only 15% profit tax.
• Ncell pays 47 Arba 3 crore 99 lakh 43 thousand and 297 rs and ends the conflict of tax.
• Government to recover tax from Ncell within 3 months - SC had already decided to collect the CGT amount from Ncell Axitata itself on Magh 23, 2075, Taxpayers office will calculate the Capital Gain tax (CGT) amount which is 25% of the deal amount while sold to Axiata from TeliaSonera. Several news reports claim the tax amount comes to Rs 61 billion but with the late fees and fines included, it will become Rs 66 billion.