Nepal Telecom (NT), the state- owned telecom giant, has decided to reduce the tariff rates of internet service by as much as 83 percent for business purposes, according to an official from the computer division in tariff on Thursday.

Som Nath Bhattarai, chief of computer division of NT, said the new prices will come into effect from Thursday. "The price reduction will benefit customers and companies that require high- speed as well as constant and reliable connection."

The price of 64 kbps-lease-line internet service will come down to 5,000 Nepali rupees (71.4 U.S. dollars) per month from the previous 18,000 rupees (257.1 dollars). While tariff rate of 128kbps-ISDN internet service will come down to 3,000 rupees (42.8 dollars) per month from 13,600 rupees (194.2 dollars) of earlier, said Bhattarai.

Bhattarai said that customers will be able to avail the service for 24 hours a day without any fluctuation in speed.

The announcement to reduce the tariff rates comes five days after the state-owned telecom started procuring bandwidth from BSNL-- an Indian telecom company -- using the information superhighway.

This is the first time that the country has used the optical fiber network, laid along east-west highway, for cross-country data transfer.

Source: Xinhua