Tourist hub Thamel suddenly witnesses an intense activity to make it look beautiful. Thanks to the initiation for removing the dangled wires, cables from the entire area in the wake of upcoming tourist year #VisitNepal2020. Now the area is not only free from wires/cables but also the internet and telephones. Seems like these wires/cables are the lifelines of the businesses which carried a lot of transactions.
With the removal of the cables/wires, the internet/telephone lines are out of order bringing the businesses at a standstill position. The worst part is they do not know when the internet and telephone services will be restored, putting serious harm to their business. As Christmas and New year 2020 is on the way, businesses are bound to lose a lot of money with this.
Thamel wires removal
As known, the Thamel beautification works have been carried by the Thamel tourism development Council (TTDC) to make it look cleaner and beautiful and attract more tourists. Yes, no one argues for the reason behind the removal of wires, but it should have been done in a planned way so that the businesses do not get troubled.
TTDC said they had carried discussions with stakeholders of the wires/cables, THT reports quoting them. But ISPAN and telecom companies were not aware of the level of damage in their infrastructure and the revenue out of the services.
NTA warns
Meanwhile, NTA, the telecommunication regulator has issued a press release that the removal of wires/cables has brought their serious attention. They believe that the recent disruption of the internet, telephone services in Thamel for managing the ungoverned wires, deprives peoples right to information.
They also consider this action is against the Telecommunication Act, 2053 and is deemed illegal. Anyone responsible for such action can be punished. As the equipment that is damaged there is not manufactured here, they need to brought from abroad which takes time. So, NTA says that damaging such infrastructure makes losses to the service providers and also lengthen the no service period.
NTA also suggests coordinating with the respective ministry, themselves and other stakeholders before cutting the wires. As these wires have an impact on the basic communication and businesses, they warn not to do such activity otherwise face the legal action.
Cables/Wires
Most of the wires/cables in the Thamel are from Telecom companies and Internet Service providers (ISP). With these cables, the telephone and internet services reach out to the individual house and the business premises. Some of the offices, banks have leased line connections to perform their transactions and regular office functioning.
Here are the aerial cables/wires that are run over the poles.
- Twisted pair copper wires for a landline telephone, ADSL.
- Optical fiber for both major link connectivity, FTTH fiber internet service and leased line
- Coaxial cable for both TV and internet
- CCTV camera connection
- Bank’s ATM connection.
- Cellular tower connection.
READ: Ntc gets the dangled cable/wires underground works.
Thamel businesses
Almost all tourists in Thamel make a digital form of payment using cards or mobile. These sorts of payments are troubled due to the absence of the internet and landline telephone service. Bank ATM’s were also not found working inside the core Thamel area. The Tourists now either have to carry the Cash or go outside of Thamel.
Now shops have very low sales and Hotels have no reservation online plus the defunct digital payments, have hit the businesses hard. The business owners have already made a complaint to authorities including NTA but there has been a little hearing to their helplessness.
The problem is not only for the tourists or businesses, but the whole people and their lives have also been affected without the internet, landline phones.
Mobile connection
At first, when they start to remove the cables, wires, the mobile network signal was also brought to a dead end. The towers of telecom companies also connect to their offices using optical fibers which were cut by the above action. READ Fiber cut troubles telcos and ISPs.
The telecom companies restored mobile connection somehow after some days with alternate routes. But landline phones and internet services will take more time to restore.
Business use wireless
Although it is not right to disrupt the internet in such a way, but businesses also could have saved themselves by making a backup link (we suggest a wireless connection) to avoid the losses. The damage of wired connection could have happened from other ways (like fire, pole damage, etc) so they always need to have an alternate connection which we suggest it to be from cellular communication.
These days 3G, 4G internet have reached almost all places at least in the city areas. So they could have simply used 3G, 4G dongle for the internet connection for at least the period until the normal internet restores. Transaction normally does not take huge data so the connection that matters rather than the higher speed or the cost that comes along. Read the latest Ntc data packs and Ncell data packs.
Tell us what do you think of the wires removal action in Thamel, in the comment below.
