By the late 1980s, a satellite earth station had been established allowing Nepalese to make direct telephone calls beyond the South Asian region. Currently, Nepal s telephone capacity exceeds 200,000 and is fairly modernized. In the last 5 years, we have seen the telephony infrastructure being used by private entrepreneurs to provide Internet access. Currently, NTC is the only provider of telephony services in Nepal. NTC s service covers major Nepali cities and also some remote areas like Dolpa and Humla where satellite transceivers called VSATs are used.
Microwave links connect Kathmandu with the rest of the country.
Nepal also has direct fiber optic link with India through the Birgunj exchange. Last year, NTC introduced cellular mobile telephony based on the GSM standards in Nepal. The current capacity of cellular is 10,000 out of which 6,000 is in Kathmandu valley. Even today, after almost a year of introduction, not even half the total capacity has been utilized. Recently, NTC has reduced sign up fees in an attempt to attract more subscribers.