KATHMANDU: Free Wi-Fi internet service has been made available at 19 public locations across Kathmandu under the initiative of Minister for Communications and Information Technology Jagadish Kharel.
The service has been expanded to key public spaces, including hospitals, the Pashupatinath Temple area, airports, and several other sensitive and high-traffic service centers.
According to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, maintenance, quality enhancement, and capacity upgrades have been carried out in areas where Wi-Fi was already available, while new connections have been established at eight additional sites — three of which are still under construction.
Free Wi-Fi service is now operational at Kathmandu’s New Bus Park, Bhaktapur Hospital, Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, Kirtipur Hospital, and Tribhuvan International Airport, with improved network capacity.
Similarly, work is in progress to install and expand service at the Thulobharyang Transport Management Office in Kathmandu, the Ekantakuna Transport Management Office in Lalitpur, and the Radhe-Radhe Transport Management Office in Bhaktapur.
To ensure continuity and sustainability, the concerned organizations have entered into agreements with internet service providers. Nepal Telecom, Worldlink, and ViaNet have jointly collaborated to implement the free Wi-Fi service. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), the sector regulator, has coordinated the project under Minister Kharel’s special initiative.
According to NTA, bandwidth at existing locations such as Bir Hospital, Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (Maharajgunj), Teku Hospital, Kanti Children’s Hospital, Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center, Civil Hospital, National Trauma Center, Patan Hospital, Shahid Dharmabhakta Mathema National Transplant Center, and the Pashupatinath Temple area has been upgraded from 10 Mbps to 150 Mbps, with per-device capacity increased from 100 MB to 500 MB.
New Wi-Fi systems have also been installed at Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, with six access points, and at Kirtipur Hospital, with five access points. Additionally, Nepal Telecom has prepared an action plan to expand free Wi-Fi to 35 airports nationwide, including Tribhuvan International Airport.
The ministry has also begun work to expand the service to 10 key cities outside the Valley. A team led by Minister Kharel is scheduled to visit the New Bus Park, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Pashupati area, and Tribhuvan International Airport between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. today to inspect the operation of the newly expanded free Wi-Fi service.
Comment