Satellite Phones connect remote Nepali Villages

KATHMANDU: When the village of Kalikot in remote and roadless western Nepal was ravaged by a huge fire earlier this year, authorities in Kathmandu heard about it within minutes. The news was in the national media the next morning and within two days food and relief had started arriving by helicopter.

If the fire had happened ten years ago, it would possibly have taken the news a week to reach the capital - by runner to the radio at the district headquarters in Jumla and on to Kathmandu 500 km away across the Himalayan mountains.

That Kalikot received quick relief is thanks to Nepal's nationwide network of microwave repeater stations, which now links most of this landlocked kingdom's remote districts by telephone, helping in disaster relief, mountain rescue and tourism.

This is a necessity in Nepal. The country soars like a gigantic staircase rising from 100 metres above sea level along the southern border with India to nearly 9,000 metres on the edge of the Tibetan plateau - all within a horizontal distance of 100 km. The near-vertical terrain makes it difficult and expensive to build and maintain roads, and the high mountains that separate the inhabited valleys are as much of a barrier as an ocean separating islands.

Experiences such as Kalikot's have led communications analysts to argue that satellite telephony is probably the best suited technology for Nepal's 80,000 villages to keep in touch. It is hard to quibble with that view. Calls are beamed directly to one of the numerous satellites overhead, which then relays them from one satellite to another all the way to the termination point - within seconds.

"Satellite telephone systems offer immeasurable opportunities for rural communities in countries like Nepal where geography is the main hindrance for quick communication," says Sanjib Rajbhandari, chief executive officer of Marcantile Communications, a private sector pioneer in modern communications in Nepal.

"Imagine villagers communicating to their district headquarters or the centre instantly to tell their needs. Communication as a tool adds to the quality of life and development. The multiplier effect on development is immense," he says.

That efficient communication tools aid the development process has never been in doubt. After languishing for more than three decades since opening up its doors to outsiders in the 1950s, Nepali towns such as Birgunj, Butwal and Pokhara began to thrive in the 1980s on the back of improved telephone systems put in place by the government.

Traders in Birgunj, the main entry point for imported goods say it is now easy to call up suppliers not just in other Nepali towns but also in neighbouring India and elsewhere.

Despite the changes, however, much remains to be done for rural communities to benefit from modern communications. With just 180,000 telephone lines for its 21 million people, Nepal has one of the lowest 'teledensities' in the world.

Much of the problem can be attributed to Nepal's difficult topography - slinging telephone wires across the valleys and gorges to connect villages is not just difficult and time-consuming but also vastly expensive.

"Terrestrial wire-based telephones are out of question," says B R Kandel, Nepal Telecoms' (NTC) deputy general manager in charge of rural telecommunications. "Where is the money going to come from?"

Such considerations have led the government-owned telecom monopoly to concentrate on using various technologies - point-to-point microwave links, Multiple Access Radio Tele Systems (MARTS) and single channel VHF and UHF links - to connect far-flung villages. Additionally, NTC has also set up facilities for satellite communication with five remote mountainous districts.

But those measures still fall short. Though the NTC proudly asserts that all of Nepal's 75 districts are now connected by telephone, some of these districts have only one telephone line, that too in the district headquarters. It is not unusual for Nepali villagers to hike for hours to reach an NTC-operated booth in the main district town to make a call.

Pankaj Tiwari, a Kathmandu-based travelling salesman for pharmaceutical products, says: "If you are at the district headquarters, then it's fine. All you do is queue up at the booth. But if you are in a remote village, then you are virtually cut-off from the rest of the world."

A potential solution may exist in a new generation of satellite services. In November 1998, the first of a series of new satellite networks came on line when Iridium, backed by the US Motorola company, launched 66 low earth satellites. Other companies, such as Globalstar and Ico are due to launch their own satellite networks in 1999 and 2000.

The problem is cost - it can be prohibitive in a country like Nepal, where the annual per capita income is just $200. The Iridium handsets will cost approximately $3,000 and calls will cost between $1 and $7 per minute, with the service mainly being targeted at international business travellers. Globalstar handsets will cost between $880 and $1,400 and calls are likely to fall in the range of $1 and $2 per minute. Ico will charge $1,000 for handsets and will cost $3 per minute for calls.

Many feel that such conditions call for Nepal and other poor countries to go in for mixed technologies. Rajbhandari advises: "Provide each village with a satellite telephone, and then link it with either wire-based or wire-less systems. And you have a solution."

But government officials appear unconvinced about the need for satellite-based telecommunications, except in emergencies. "We agree the technology is suitable for rural communication, but our main concern is costs," Kandel says. "Unless the costs come down, we don't see how we can make use of it."

- APB