Internet Speed: 1.9 Mbps; 2.8 Mbps uplink

Population: 29 million

Internet Coverage: over 20% of residents

Main Types of Access to the Internet: ADSL, Wireless Internet

Internet Censorship: Relatively Lenient

Colocation Datacenters: 10

Colocation Industry: Undeserved

Web Hosting Industry: Undeserved

According to Akamai.com, the average downlink Internet speed in Nepal is 1.9 Mbps and the average uplink speed is 2.8 Mbps.

Population & Internet Availability

The current population of Nepal is approximately 29 million. Over 20% of residents have access to the Internet, especially narrowband connections.

Main Types of Access to the Internet

Nepali residents can access the following Internet services:

– ADSL Internet
– Wireless Internet

Internet Access – ADSL

ADSL Internet is the only wired internet service available in Nepal. Almost the entire infrastructure is concentrated in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city, due to the fact that other cities either fall under very low income categories, or are located in mountainous regions where it is virtually impossible to roll out the necessary infrastructure without incurring massive costs. Even so, ADSL services provided in Kathmandu are of very low quality and reliability. According to various sources, internet speeds reach 1 Mbps at best, and prices easily exceed $13 per month. There is moderate intent to improve the infrastructure; however, because there is very low demand for high speed internet services, and because most people do not actually have Internet access at home but pay for it at so-called “cyber cafes”, it is quite clear that the existing infrastructure will not see much improvement for the foreseeable future.

Internet Access – Wireless Internet

Users who cannot access the Internet via ADSL or do not wish to make use of cyber cafes for doing so usually resort to wireless internet. This type of service has seen considerable growth in recent years, especially in Kathmandu, but also in several mountain villages which were included in a nationwide program designed to bring internet access to remote areas that cannot support traditional wired services, that is, ADSL internet. Owing to the technology used, wireless internet services are more expensive than ADSL.

Internet Censorship in Nepal

Even though there are some limitations on the Internet imposed by the Nepali government, accessing it freely should not present any problem, since the limitations in question are quite hard to implement in practice. For instance, the government, which is the only regulatory body to oversee the broadcasting sector in Nepal, has recently imposed a ban on pornographic content, which every ISP must enforce on their respective users. However, such limitation is very hard to go forward with in practice, and this is demonstrated by the very high number of users who still can access this type of content. Apart from this particular issue, several NGOs assert that the Internet in Nepal is generally not tampered with by legal bodies. The OpenNet Initiative conducted a test from October 2006 to January 2007 on six Nepali ISPs, namely Worldlink, Everest, Mercantile, Nepal Telecom, Speedcast, and Websurfer, in order to detect possible filtering of internet access. The results came out negative.

According to datacentermap.com, there are currently 10 colocation datacenters located in Kathmandu. All facilities are concentrated in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal.

Prominent Colocation Providers

Prominent colocation providers include the following:

– DataHub Pvt. LTD
– AccessWorld Tech Pvt. LTD
– Dataspace
– NITC

Prominent Colocation Providers – Datahub

The largest colocation provider located in Kathmandu is Datahub. This provider owns and operates a colocation facility that provides probably the most reliable colocation and recovery services among all providers. Services provided at this location include rental of suites, cages, rack cabinets, footprints, in addition to hosting of dedicated servers, and virtual servers. Amenities are as follows:

– diverse power feeds into the building
– N+1 UPS power equipment
– N+1 cooling equipment
– underground fiber entries
– carrier neutrality, with on-site access to major telecoms and carrier hotels located in close proximity

Prominent Colocation Providers – AccessWorld

Another popular destination for colocation services is represented by AccessWorld. Not only does this company provide reliable colocation services in Kathmandu, but they also have numerous other private facilities located abroad where the same quality service is provided for. Colocation services include rental of suites, cages, rack cabinets, and diverse enclosures, in addition to hosting of dedicated servers, and virtual servers.

Colocation Industry in Nepal

Nepal is not known as a prominent colocation market, nor does it display many private investments in this sector; in other words, the market is quite stagnant and it is bound to remain so for a very long time. All of the existing colocation providers are concentrated in Kathmandu. Other companies used to exist in similarly developed cities, but due to lack of demand for colocation services, they eventually went bankrupt. Customers who wish to establish a solid presence in South Asia usually opt for other more developed markets, such as China and India. Even those who want to cater to a Nepali audience exclusively find that surrounding markets can better meet their needs.

As with the colocation market, Nepal does not experience much growth in the web hosting sector either. In recent years, there have been many companies that have emerged and which provide reliable hosting services both to local and international customers. However, the market remains quite underdeveloped simply because other country names such as “China” and “India” sound better to the ear, and which are indeed incomparably more developed than Nepal.