‘New mobile service beginning from Sept 17’
Spice Nepal Private Limited (SNPL)- the first private company to operate mobile service in Nepal- is launching its services under the brand name of Mero Mobile from mid September.
In an interview to The Kathmandu Post on Monday, the Chief Executive Officer of SNPL, Damir Karassayev, said commercial launch is scheduled for September 17. “We have already started offering mobile services in test-mode, for which a specially reduced tariff plan has been created. But this tariff will be valid for the duration of the test period only,” he said.
Highlighting the special features of 'Mero Mobile', Karassayev said, “ We will provide high quality service to our subscribers. Our equipment supplier is Siemens of Germany, one of the leading manufacturers of telecommunications equipment.”
On rumors of providing cheaper mobile service than Nepal Telecom (NT)-the state run telecommunication company-he said, “The SNPL is definitely not planning to go into pricing war with the NT. As a matter of fact, we think that tariff rates for mobile services in Nepal are already very low. We believe that good customer care and a wide range of services will differentiate us from other service providers.”
A citizen of Kazakhstan, Karassayev has already served as president for Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, Finance Director for Kar-Tel LLP, a GSM mobile operator in Kazakhstan and Finance Director of JSC 'Kaztransgas', the report said.
According to him, local Nepali partners own twenty percent of Spice Nepal Private Limited (SNPL). The majority stake is controlled by VISOR Holding, an investment company registered in Kazakhstan. VISOR has been involved in several telecom projects in CIS countries and is responsible for financing of this project and management control of SNPL.
Karassayev also said that the SNPL, besides, launching services in the Kathmandu valley plans to cover most of the major cities in Nepal such as Birgunj, Pokhara, Janakpur, Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Butwal, Nepalgunj, Bharatpur, Hetauda, Banepa, Dharan in the first phase of network expansion. “In the second phase, all other cities in Nepal with the population above 20,000 will be covered,” he said.
A joint venture of Nepali and Russian entrepreneurs, the SNPL has been given access code beginning from 9801, according to reports.
The SNPL- first private company to operate mobile service in Nepal- successfully soft launched its services in Kathmandu on the second week of August. nepalnews.com pd Aug 29 05
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