The country is gradually moving ahead on the path of development and in pursuit of the national goal of Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli the other day inaugurated the 4G/LTE service of Nepal Telecom GSM mobile that will offer better mobile communication facilities to the citizens. 4G LTE is new generation of mobile communication with an average speed of 130 Mbps. The subscribers of this service can download and upload data at a much faster pace than 3G allowing one to access all content in real time. They can make video calls to family and friends in real time and enjoy online gaming without interruption while business persons can avail of much faster cloud-based services and real time mobile conferencing facility.

The inauguration of 4G service holds a special significance as we are living in an information age or the digital age. The world has changed so drastically in the last few years that we cannot imagine of life without mobile phones and Internet service, even in the villages. And there is always demand for better mobile and Internet service so the government is obliged to make sure that the citizens can communicate more conveniently and effectively. Indeed, the beginning of the 4G has taken the country a step ahead on the path of technology and building a digital economy. It also has relevance in the government’s broader goal of multidimensional development of infrastructure, education, health, tourism, and modernisation of agriculture. The high quality service of 4G LTE will definitely make vital contribution to the development of education, health and tourism services. This is also going to have a positive impact on the development of physical infrastructure and modernisation and commercialisation of agriculture that still makes biggest contribution to the national economy.

Nepal is located between two rapidly growing economies of the world – India and China. However, it has long been stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty with about 20 per cent of people still remaining under the poverty line. The situation is changing slowly with political transition coming to an end and the formation of a stable government in the country. And the new government has taken up economic agenda for the prosperity of the nation. However, it does not have enough resource at its disposal so it needs to attract as much foreign direct investment as possible from the two neighbouring countries and beyond. The prospective investors will be interested only when basic infrastructure including roads, electricity and communication services are in place. The country has done significantly well on the energy front in the recent years and the days of power cuts are over. The introduction of 4G is going to be another incentive for investors wishing to invest in Nepal.

Nevertheless, there is no room for complacency; the country still needs to do a lot more to improve its rickety infrastructures like roads and bridges, airports and special economic zones. Successive governments have accorded priority to timely completion of development projects but there is little change in ground realities. PM Oli is quite serious in this regard; he has repeatedly said that delay in the execution of development projects would not be acceptable. Things might change for the better if all concerned authorities and officials acted sincerely in line with the PM’s wish to speed up the development process and make poverty history.