Net profit of state-owned telecom company – Nepal Telecom (NT) – has decreased by 22.22 per cent during the third quarter of the current fiscal year compared to the same period last fiscal year.
The company has earned a net profit of Rs. 5.88 billion in the third quarter of the current fiscal year 2020/21 while it had earned a net profit of Rs. 7.56 billion in the third quarter of the last fiscal year 2019/20.
NT said that the profit had decreased due to the reduction in interest income.
Due to the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nepal Telecom has witnessed a decline in global business, interest rates on term deposits and call deposits of banks and financial institutions have decreased in the current fiscal year as compared to the previous year.
Similarly, Nepal Telecom has pointed out that even though data consumption has increased compared to the previous year, the revenue has not increased as expected as the company has provided data packages at very low prices for the convenience of the customers in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ban on international travel have led to an unprecedented decline in international roaming services and the increasing use of OTT has resulted in a sharp decline in international interconnection services.
During the review period, the increase in the minimum wage of manpower from external sources, the increase in maintenance cost, the change in the foreign exchange rate and the introduction of new technologies such as 4G/FTTH have led to an increase in expenditure, resulting in decline of the net profit.
NT’s ‘lockdown stay connected’ offer
Meanwhile, Nepal Telecom is going to provide data bonus on unlimited day data package and recharge as a lockdown stay connected offer for one month from May 14, 2021.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, there is a situation of prohibitory order and lockdown in many parts of the country.
In view of this situation, Nepal Telecom has launched this scheme.
Unlimited Day Data Pack Offer will be available at Rs. 39. The speed of the data pack will be up to 1 Mbps. The pack purchased under this offer will be valid for 24 hours.
“The pack can be purchased only once a day. As this pack can only be used from 5 am to 5 pm, other data packs purchased by the customer before that time will be used or pay as you go,” NT said.
During this period, bonus data will be provided while recharging the mobile through MPoS or various payment service providers.
When recharging Rs. 200 to up to Rs. 499, 500 MB of data will be provided and that data can be used within 2 days.
Similarly, when recharging Rs. 500 or more amount, 1024 MB data will be provided and that data can be used within 4 days.
NT said that these offers can be used on the 4G network to take advantage of high-speed data usage.
Source : THE RISING NEPAL,
