New Delhi, June 6
In what may cause disruption in Nepal's telecom sector, the country's billionaire group CG Corp is all set to launch a "game-changer" new-age digital services with an aim of transforming the country's digital platform by offering data at very affordable rates.
The venture will be Nepal's "first and real" 4G and will lay the ground for 5G services, the Group's Chairman Binod Chaudhary told IANS.
The launch, which will take place as soon as certain regulatory clearances are given, is expected to incur an investment of $250 million in the first phase.
"We want to be a serious player in the digital segment. We want to bring in a lot more offerings than any of the players are doing," said Chaudhary, whose group has more than 130 companies in diverse sectors including financial services, energy, education, hospitality and real estate.
"We are definitely interested to offer what we believe is going to be a game-changer.
"We want to make data very affordable as we believe that we are not going to start a telecom company but we are going to start a new age digital company which should transform Nepal's digital platform," he said.
He said his group is in the advanced stage of planning its network and "waiting for certain regulatory approvals, which should happen any moment".
Chaudhary said his company will launch the service in partnership with Turkcell of Turkey, which is one of the major players in Euro-Asia and that part of the world.
The CG Group has already launched CG Lifecell in Nepal in a tie-up with Turkcell-owned Lifecell.
"LifeCell has already launched CG Lifecell, as we call in Nepal, in collaboration with the Lifecell ventures of Turkey. It has already launched the BIP which is an equivalent or even better than Whatsapp. Within a very short time, it has gathered a lot of popularity," Chaudhary said.
The venture will be targeting 30 million people of Nepal.
There is "a big vacuum for quality services" in Nepal's telecom sector which is "waiting for a real competition" as the state-owned company is no match to erstwhile Axiata and now Telenor Joint Venture, the top businessman of the country said.
The state-owned telecom company is Nepal Telecom.
"The telecom sector in Nepal is going through a very big transformative phase. Recently, the shares of the controlling interest of one of the two of the big players have been taken over by Telenor. The state-owned company and this company share the equal market," he said.
"There is a need for a third operator so that the market becomes more vibrant and new technologies and new products can be brought in," he said.
Asked whether the CG's launch will be disruptive, Chaudhary replied: "Certainly, whenever a new player is going to come, disruption is going to happen. No question about it. We are committed to making our services affordable."
"We will be the first and real 4G player, fully prepared to advance to 5G as soon as the same is launched," he added.
The CG Group Chairman said his company will do everything possible to make its services much more affordable to students, to farmers and to a much wider spectrum of consumers.
"We want to make data very affordable as we believe that we are not going to start a telecom company but we are going to start a new age digital company which should transform Nepal's digital platform," he said.
