Mero Mobile to invest $250Mn in Nepal
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mero Mobile, the mobile arm of Spice Nepal, will make an investment of US$ 250 million in next two years of its operations in order to offer better coverage and services to its subscribers.
“Our aim is to be the number one mobile operator in Nepal,” said Lars Nyberg, president and chief executive officer of TeliaSonera, the Finnish-Swedish telecommunications company which holds an 80 percent controlling stake in Spice Nepal. “We want to provide the best network quality to Nepali consumers.”
“There will be three things that we will concentrate on — quality of service, customer service and competitive pricing,” said CEO Nyberg. The mobile tariffs which at present are higher at Mero Mobile in comparison to its rival operator will be slashed in a year or so.
At present, the matters of concern for the operator are dropped calls and power outages.
The operator will invest US$ 120 million in 2009 and US$ 130 in 2010, Dilip Singh, chief executive officer of Spice Nepal, said. “There is only 60 percent mobile penetration in Nepal now, and there is no reason why this cannot be 100 percent,” Nyberg said. According to Singh, the company wants to provide services to 1.2 million more consumers in 2009 in addition to its existing 1.7 million subscribers.
“Securing a connection at the first attempt and hearing a clear voice from the other end is important,” Singh said.
Singh reportedly said that the telco is in talks with the Nepal proposal for reframing frequencies because Telecommunications Authority’s it was a complicated and expensive process and such reframing would affect consumers.
