Ncell has announced the launch of its fourth generation (4G) service in Kohalpur of Banke and Birendranagar of Surkhet district from Friday.

All Ncell customers possessing 4G SIM (U-SIM) with 4G compatible handset in Kohalpur and Birendranagar will be able to experience high-speed mobile broadband from Friday, the company said in a press statement.

Customers who have yet to change their SIM to 4G SIM can easily acquire 4G SIM with same mobile number at just Rs1 by visiting their nearby Ncell centre, said the press statement. With the SIM upgrade—which can be done by furnishing original document (citizenship certificate or driving license)—customers will also receive 1GB 4G data free with a validity of 3 days.

On the occasion of launch of 4G service in two more cities, Ncell is providing free music streaming and downloads service through Yonder Music app for 30 days to customers using Ncell’s 4G in Kohalpur and Birendranagar. 

Customers can enjoy Ncell’s 4G service and 30 days of free Yonder Music, which is an extensive digital library of over 20 million songs including 15,000 Nepali songs, by simply dialing *324#. Customers can check if their SIM is 4G by sending SMS to 324 typing Q, the press statement of the company reads. With the commencement of 4G service in Kohalpur and Birendranagar, Ncell’s 4G service has now reached 19 cities across the country. 

The company had launched 4G first in Kathmandu Valley including Nagarkot, Banepa and Dhulikhel on June 1.

Ncell 4G is also available in cities, including Pokhara, Damauli, Biratnagar, Birtamode, Damak, Dharan, Bharatpur, Hetauda, Birgunj, Bhairahawa, Butwal and Nepalgunj.

“We are delighted that we have been able to swiftly deliver on what we committed on 4G expansion,” said Pranay Acharya, corporate services director of Ncell. “As a part of our vision to contribute to the goals of National Broadband Policy and Digital Nepal, we will continue to expand 4G in other parts of the country as well so that more cities have access to new technology and people are able to reap its benefits.”

Ncell is further planning and testing 4G services in other cities. The company has set a target of introducing 4G in 40 cities by 2018 to enable customers to take advantage of the huge speed increase and the opportunities that it will bring. 

“Apart from increasing access to 4G, we will also continue to bring more exciting offers to the customers, whereby they will be able to enjoy fast 4G connectivity and access unlimited videos for free, among others,” Acharya stated.