Competitions Among Service Providers Makes Voice Calls Cheaper

Competitions among Telephone service providers; Nepal Telecom (NTC), Ncell and smart-cell has made voice calls cheaper, reports Annapurna Post. The competition created to attract customers has brought a positive impact on the customers as they have been able to afford voice calls at a better price.

The companies have been introducing new and unique voice packages to attract customers. Some have introduced ‘Night Voice Pack‘, some ‘My Five‘, while some have introduced ‘Special Talk Pack‘. Purshotam Khanal, senior director of the Telecommunication Authority, stated that the customers are most benefited by all these various types of voicemail services.

Khanal added that customers are able to call at affordable rates while using different packages as per requirement. The customer of Telecom can now make a voice call on a rate of 10 paisa per minute due to different packages.

Generally, voice calls from NTC’s GSM and CDMA postpaid and prepaid SIMs cost Rs. 1 and Rs. 1.50 per minute respectively. This rate of the call is defined by Telecommunications Authority itself. But, using various packs, the calls made through postpaid and prepaid SIMs can be made at 45 paisa per minute, informed Prativa Vaidya, a telecom spokesperson.

Vaidya added that under the voice pack provided by Telecom in GSM and CDMA prepaid/postpaid mobile, total call of 1200 minutes for 60 days is available for Rs. 550.

In Telecom’s Night Voice Pack, the customers will be able to call at the rate of 10 paisa per minute. According to Vaidya, the customer will be able to use the night voice pack for Rs. 25 for seven days from 10 PM to morning 6 AM for 250 minutes.

Similarly, Ncell charges 1 rupee 20 paisa per minute for a call but the different Ncell voice packs make the voice calls cheaper. Using the Ncell voice pack, customers can make a call at 7 paisa per minute. Customers can use Night Call Pack at Rs. 8.78 from 10 PM to 6 AM for a call duration of 120 minutes for 24 hours. Under daily packages, the customers can call at a rate of Rs. 1 per minute. Ncell has planned to bring a daily pack which charges Rs. 11 for 11 minutes call (available for 24 hours).

Smart Cell, has also devised different packs for customers. As per the packages, calls among smart cell users is available at the rate of 60 paisa per minute and between different network for 1 rupee 80 paisa per minute. The customers are heavenly benefited through this scheme.

In the opinion of Khanal, Senior Director of Authority, if the service providers keep devising new packs and compete against one another, the voice call will be available at more cheaper rates. He informed that there are six companies registered as a telephone service provider in Nepal. Companies like United Telecom Limited (UTL), Nepal Satellite Telecom and CG Communications are unknown to many. Smart Cell is slowly expanding into the market so, the current competition is only between Ncell and NTC.

However, he also added that NTC has its sole monopoly and Ncell has its own. In one way, there is no competition between these two, one is barred by government rules, and another has an open policy. So, he believes that if another company came in this place, voice call would be even more cheaper. He also suggested that pulse rate should be decreased to make calls cheaper.

Instead of 10 seconds per pulse, if per second per pulse was applied then the price of voice call will decrease. Khanal stated that initiative for this is being taken.