How much internet comes to Nepal from China?

5.155 Gbps bandwidth is entering Nepal from China. According to the Telecommunication Authority of Nepal, Nepal Telecom is the regulatory body of the telecommunications sector, with Mercantile Communications, the largest provider of five Gbps and network and internet service provider, introducing 155 Mbps bandwidth.

The rest of the total 550 Gbps international internet bandwidth being consumed in Nepal is coming from India. Thus, the bandwidth coming from China is less than one percent.

Samit Jan Thing, Board of Directors of Nepal Internet Exchange (NPIX), informed that WorldLink is currently conducting tests to import bandwidth from Rasuwagadhi port in China. There are two checkpoints in the north for international bandwidth entry into Nepal from China.

Out of which, network infrastructures are under construction at Tatopani Naka and limited amount of bandwidth has been imported from Tatopani Naka for some years now.

According to Thing, who is also the chief technical officer of WorldLink, the main reason for the low bandwidth coming from China is that it is expensive to bring bandwidth through the mountainous terrain and difficult geography. He said service providers were not interested in importing more bandwidth from China because of the risk of avalanches and the fact that repairs would take longer if the fiber was cut.

However, he estimated that the bandwidth imported from China could increase in the future as one of the checkpoints could be used as the other checkpoints are under construction as the Tatopani checkpoint is also under construction.

Total bandwidth of 500 Gbps bandwidth was entering Nepal from both China and India. But with the increase in internet consumption due to logging, bandwidth imports have reached 550 Gbps. Thus, the import of bandwidth has increased by 10 percent due to lockdown.

In Kenya, Google is providing the Internet from a balloon

Agency. Google's subsidiary Loon has officially launched its commercial internet service in the Kenyan mountains. Loon has started to provide internet service in a separate style by flying balloons in the sky.

These balloons fly in the air above the earth's surface and act as cell service towers. This is the first time that Loon has been able to offer such a large amount of service using such isolated technology. Loon has launched the service in partnership with Kenya's local telecom service provider, Telecom Kenya.

The company is providing cellular services from its network in an area of ​​five thousand square kilometers. As the area is located in a mountainous area, the service providers were having difficulty in preparing the underground infrastructure.

Loon signed an agreement in 2019 to provide its first commercial service in Kenya. With the epidemic of Covid 19 spreading, the company's justification for this kind of effort has become even stronger.

Under this different technology of loon, 35 balloons will be flying in the target coverage area. The average internet speed available is up to 18.9 Mbps and the download speed is above 4.47 Mbps. It has a latency of 19 milliseconds. According to Loon, it can easily use voice calls, video calls, YouTube video streaming, WhatsApp.

Loon has been testing his services in Kenya since last year. The company was providing services to 35,000 customers during the trial period.

Before the recent commercial service began in 2017, Lun used its balloon technology as an emergency service in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

At present, Loon is providing its services in collaboration with commercial telecom companies in many remote areas of the world. Loon Alphabet is a subsidiary of Google.