Nepal Telecom Research Articles

Cultivating Productivity: An Empirical Examination of Workplace Environment Drivers of Employee Performance in Nepal Telecom Company

Cultivating Productivity: An Empirical Examination of Workplace Environment Drivers of Employee Performance in Nepal Telecom Company

Performance evaluation of three grid-connected monocrystalline silicon solar photovoltaic systems in Nepal

This study evaluates three grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems using four criteria: final yield, performance ratio, capacity utilization factor, and system efficiency. The PV systems were installed on the rooftop of the Nepal Telecom office at Sundhara, Pokhara, and Biratnagar. The generation data was collected through the web interface of the data logger installed at the sites. Long-term comparison (four years) of the plant at Sundhara and the same system comparison of plants at Pokhara and Biratnagar were performed. Long-term analysis of the plant at Sundhara found that the final yield decreased from 2.91 kWh/kWp in 2019 to 2.21 kWh/kWp in 2022. Similarly, the performance ratio decreased from 91.0% in 2019 to 67.3% in 2022, capacity utilization factor decreased from 12.1% in 2019 to 9.2% in 2022, and system efficiency decreased from 16.8% in 2019 to 12.5% in 2022. The same system installed at Pokhara and Biratnagar had slightly varied performance owing to the variation in meteorological parameters. The average air temperature at Biratnagar (26.7°C) was higher than at Pokhara (13.1°C) while the amount of solar radiation at Biratnagar was just higher by 4%. This led to the reduction of final yield by 9% at Biratnagar than at Pokhara as higher temperatures at Biratnagar caused more reduction in the power output from the solar panels. Finally, this study provides insights to researchers, PV installers, and panel manufacturers on the actual performance of grid-connected solar PV in Nepal.

Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction among Nepalese Cellular Mobile Service Providers

The objective of this study was to find out how satisfied customers are with Nepal Telecom and Ncell's mobile phone services. Both the analytical and the descriptive research designs were used in this study. All users of Nepal Telecom and Ncell mobile telephone services make up the study's population and 400 mobile telephone services user was considered as a sample of the study. In this study, correlation analysis was used to find the relationship between service quality factors and customer satisfaction and linear regression analysis was used to evaluate multiple independent variables that affect the dependent variables. The findings of this study depict that moderately positive correlation between tangibles, assurance, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, convenience, complaint handling, network quality, and customer satisfaction with mobile service providers. Similarly, the correlation is significant for tangibles, assurance, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, convenience, complaint handling, and network quality with customer satisfaction. This study also shows there was an insignificant impact of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, convenience, complaint handling, and network quality of service quality on consumer satisfaction but an insignificant impact of assurance and empathy of service quality on consumer satisfaction among Nepalese cellular mobile service providers.

The Strength of Corporate Governance Metrics on Organizational Performance of Nepalese Telecom Industry

The purpose of the study was to understand and analyze the strength of corporate governance (CG) on organizational performance (OP) of the Nepalese telecom industry from the employees' perspective. It adhered to a descriptive study approach and employed an organized questionnaire survey instrument. Two market-leading telecommunication service provider companies of Nepal, Ncell and Nepal Telecom, and their employees were considered the object of the study. It collected 387 responses through a random sampling method. The survey instrument included 18 items and was divided into three segments to collect required data that was processed with the help of SPSS and AMOS software. The study identified nine observable CG performance metrics inside two latent variables, management and leadership (ML) and management competency (MC), to evaluate CG performance and revealed that each performance metric offers a partial explanation for the synergistic effects on OP. The study's findings provided evidence to previous studies that CG performance positively and significantly affects the OP. In addition, the results of the study would deliver useful suggestions for comprehending the primary drivers of CG performance metrics in the Nepalese context.

A Balanced Scorecard Approach for Evaluating Organizational Performance of Nepal Telecom

A balanced scorecard approach is a common performance measuring system that employs performance metrics from financial and non-financial aspects. It describes an organization's current performance status and offers foundations for future performance. The study aims to assess the organizational performance of Nepal Telecom as a case study through the balanced scorecard. It adopted a quantitative research approach and employed secondary data to quantify Nepal Telecom's performance from 2016/2017 to 2020/2021. The study's findings revealed that Nepal Telecom's overall performance scores were 75, 83, 55, 45, and 47 out of 100 for the study periods. The first two years' performance score represented exceptional performance before the COVID-19 outbreak, and the last three years' performance represented average performance throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Such findings empower managers to make a long-term decision that benefits the organization. Future scholars may carry out similar work using primary data sources since this study primarily uses secondary data sources.

Comparative Study on Promotional Strategies of Two Nepali Telecom Companies, NTC and Ncell

This paper is intended to compare the promotional strategies of two leading telecommunication industry of Nepal – NTC and Ncell. Telecommunication industry is vital for economic growth. It begins with analyzing and comparing their promotional activities. Then it compares the promotional strategies in two ways: in terms of frequency and in terms of budget they spend. Through comparison, it reveals that promotional activities have been taken very seriously by the Ncell than Nepal Telecom.
 On the basis of David Aakar model of brand equity, this paper also analyzes the effect of promotional activities into brand equity in the following ways: brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association of telecommunication companies. It shows that two companies have difference in promotional strategies mainly because of their attitude to be a leader in market.

Role of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) for Economic Growth of Nepal

Information and communication technology (ICT) refers to a broad range of technological resources and techniques used to send, store, produce, share, or exchange data or information as well as a number of technologies that make it easier to communicate, such as the internet, wireless networks, mobile phones, and other channels of communication. In this research, key informant interviews (KII) were conducted with NTA representatives, executive members, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Ward Chairpersons of Pokhara Metropolitan City, representatives from Nepal Telecom. ICT has played a significant role in economic growth by enabling business to increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. It can benefit a number of economic sectors, including health, education, industry, tourism, service, agriculture, culture, banking and entrepreneurship. ICT has transformed education by making it more accessible, flexible, personalized, and effective enabling learners to access educational resources from anywhere. OCE can be benefitted through ICT with respect to re-engineering of EMIS. It improves healthcare delivery by enabling remote consultations, telemedicine, and digital health records facilitates disease surveillance, monitoring, and research and improves financial inclusion through access to mobile banking, digital payments, and online financial services. Investing in human capital is critical to promoting ICT use in all sectors of the economy. Although ICT has many positive effects, it is crucial to acknowledge and deal with any negative effects in order to guarantee that technology is used responsibly and with respect.

Corporate Social Responsibility Practices in Selected Nepalese Companies

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a business system through which the production and distribution of wealth are allocated for the betterment of its stakeholders. It includes the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic domains. It impacts society environmentally, socially, and economically. The paper aims to assess the practices of CSR in selected Nepalese companies and identify the disclosure of CSR activities. Nepal Telecom [NT], Ncell, Chaudhary Group [CG], and Standard Chartered Bank [SCB] are selected companies in this study. Data were collected through relevant documentary scrutiny and evidence such as annual reports and websites and review of previous research studies. The study is based on the qualitative method. Data analysis was used on a thematic basis. Convenience sampling was used. On the one hand, both NT and Ncell make their contribution on their communicating service; on the other hand, all of the sample companies focus their spending on education, health, environmental protection, natural calamities, and sports. Ncell has made a substantial contribution to protecting COVID-19. CG’s various CSR programs are not just for accomplishing the regulatory requirement, it aims to be part of the overall development and bring sustainable social reform. CG has livelihood as well as heritage and spiritual development programs which also should remain under CSR practices for the economic development of the country. The companies have disclosed relatively more philanthropic and ethical information and the least economic information. In this study, the economic domain of CSR is dominant. The economic domain of CSR includes the production of goods and services to earn profits. This is followed by a legal, philanthropic and ethical domain. This study helps the policymaker, business organizations, researchers, and learners to improve knowledge and ideas about CSR.

Effectiveness of learning and growth performance metrics in the Nepalese telecommunications industry for organizational success

The primary use of financial-based performance metrics to assess an organization’s success might be misleading. The application of non-financial performance metrics could improve organizational success and longevity. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of learning and growth performance metrics for organizational success in the Nepalese telecommunication industry. The quantitative research approach was utilized for collecting, presenting, and analyzing data obtained during a survey. The two major telecommunications service providers in Nepal, Ncell and Nepal Telecom, were taken as sample organizations, and their employees were the study’s respondents. The study revealed that two latent learning and growth performance metrics, namely ‘organizational culture and alignment’ having seven observable variables (β = 0.229, t = 3.419, p < .05) and ‘information capital’ having four observable variables (β = 0.079, t = 1.193, p < .05) were significant for organizational success. In contrast, one latent metric, ‘human resources’ having seven observable variables (β = 0.047, t = 0.708, p > .05), was insignificant. The overall explanation of the observed non-financial performance metrics to the organizational success of the Nepalese telecommunication industry was approximately 6%. A better learning and growth environment helps an organization generate, acquire, share, and integrate information to build resources and capabilities. In addition, non-financial performance metrics help organizations connect business performance with strategy, allowing them to be competitive.

Economics of Nepalese Telecom Industry

This paper aims to investigate the economics of Nepalese telecom industry with special reference to Nepal Telecom. The study is undertaken with the objectives to analyze Nepal Telecom as the market leader, drive an aggressive pricing model and to explore reliable telecommunication service in Nepal and become the lowest cost provider. Telecommunication at present, is the transmission of information, voice or data per time and space through electronic device. Efficiency gains and cheaper phone calls are possible from telecommunications aggressive pricing and effective customer care. The telecommunications revolution has arrived to 21st century wireless communication with fiber to the home (FTTH), 4G and 5G. The overall telecommunication market is huge. Majority of market share is needed to become a market leader. Telecom management need to formulate effective plan to achieve the target within the period of five years. Fiber to the home (FTTH) service, which includes three in one as voice, internet and IPTV has been expanded within 62 districts. Nepal Telecom has been able to expand 4G network in all 77 districts of the country with the wide coverage of 654 local bodies and 85% of the total population. FTTH is an important project as it supports the fifth-generation mobile internet (5G) which is coming to Nepal in the near future.

Telecom towers under the threat of lightning hazards

Lightning is an extremely complex electrical discharge that occurs within the earth’s atmosphere. It is the biggest threat to communication and transmission towers and damages electronic and electrical equipment beyond repair directly or indirectly. Although the protection against the lightning hazards can be achieved with the available technology and knowledge, such measures are largely overlooked in the developing countries in particular. Protecting communication & transmission towers, communication & transmission systems from the direct lightning strikes and saving human lives, livestock and other property damages from indirect lightning is a big challenge to the service providers. Nepal is a lightning prone country where the communication towers and system are often the victims of lightning strikes. In this study, we have made field assessment at the various sites of Nepal Telecom’s Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and Repeater towers for investigating their status pertinent to lightning threat and protective measures adopted in those sites. The main objectives of the field assessment were to investigate the effectiveness of the protective measures adopted, identify their inadequacies and hence to provide appropriate solutions as per the international standards (IEC 62305-4), in order to improve the quality of telecom services. The lightning strikes to the towers inside the Kathmandu valley were recorded to be rare, however it was common in the outskirts. Although, severe damage to the towers were not observed neither were recorded, the status of the towers in the perspective of lightning hazards were not found to be in the sound state. Contact resistance of the earthing system, installation of SPDs and equipotential bonding of the system need to be improved. Further, the protective measures against the hazards due to indirect effects of lightning strikes were found to be extremely poor. We recommend the improvements in protective measures against lightning in the neighborhood of the towers for the human as well as equipment safety.

Factors Influencing Employee Engagement and its Impact on Organizational Performance

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the employee engagement as well as to examine the effect of employee engagement on organizational performance.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: Descriptive and Analytical research design was used for data analysis. A convenient sample of 200 employees of Nepal Telecom responded to a structured questionnaire. Correlation and Regression analysis were performed to examine the hypothesis.
 Findings: The result shows that identified factors like career development, compensation, work environment, team and co-worker relationship, organizational policies and workplace wellbeing have positive and significant impact on employee engagement whereas Leadership has negative and insignificant impact on employee engagement. Further, the result also shows employee engagement had significant impact on organizational performance.
 Practical Implication: Organization must focus and effort on the factors like organizational policies and team and co-worker relationship as they have shown significantly higher impact on employee engagement and organizational performance. Organization should develop favourable organizational policies and focus on developing a good environment and promote such programmes that enhances team and peer relationship.
 Originality/Value: Managers must apply various strategies to make their employee engaged which is less prioritized till today.

Knowledge Dissemination in Telecom Industry: A Case of Nepal

This study attempts to evaluate knowledge dissemination in the Nepalese telecom industry. It is based on cross section analysis of 85 observations for analyzing relationship between knowledge dissemination statuses in Nepalese telecom industry. The study is based on Kohli et al. (1993) and Daroch (2003) methodologies. Survey instruments are organized into one part and four factors. Spearman Rank Correlation, Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Cronbach's alpha etc. is used for data analysis. The valid response rate of 70.7 % is found. Among the factors that designed for knowledge dissemination and combination has less mean score and socialization has higher mean score than the other factors. In case of socialization, Nepalese Telecom industry analyzes the social contribution of their products or services. Employees of Nepal Telecom has rated higher mean value in knowledge dissemination practices, which means Nepal Telecom appeared better in knowledge dissemination practices than Ncell. There is a significant difference between Nepal Telecom and Ncell in term of knowledge dissemination. Nepal Telecom has better KD (Knowledge Dissemination) practices. The correlation matrix is created to determine the extent to which the components or research variables are related.

Performance Score as a Measure of Organizational Effectiveness

Organizational effectiveness is primarily about assessing an organization's performance using several criteria. This study aims to determine Nepalese telecommunications companies' organizational effectiveness using a performance score based on the most crucial non-financial performance metrics (namely, context, focus, integration, and interactivity). The quantitative research strategy was utilized to extract the information from the designated working delegates of the Nepalese telecommunication industry. The study employed a probability sampling technique, and the quantitative data were obtained using an organized questionnaire survey to compute the performance scores of the sample organizations and the industry as a whole. The findings revealed that Nepal Telecom's score was 58.40 (systematic) and Ncell's score was 69.54 (transforming), averaging the industry score was 61.43. Such scores represent the extent to which the Nepalese telecommunication industry has applied non-financial performance measures to enhance organizational performance knowledge.

Internal business process performance of the Nepalese telecom industry

The study looked at the use of internal business process metrics within the performance assessment framework of the Nepalese telecom industry. It employed a descriptive study approach and an organized questionnaire survey instrument. The population of this study included all of Nepal’s telecom operators and their employees. The sample organizations from which random sampling techniques obtained the responses of 318 employees were Nepal Telecom and Ncell. The employees who hold at least offers and above positions at their company were the targeted respondents of the study. Three parts of the survey questionnaire were set up with 27 questions of different types to gather data. SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) program was employed to process and analyze the data. Sixteen measuring variables within four constructs were examined to assess the IBPP (internal business process performance). Three of these constructs: operations management (β = 0.229, p < 0.01), customer management (β = 0.380, p < 0.01), and regulatory and social processes (β = 0.175, p < 0.01) were found to have a statistically significant and favorable impact on the IBPP while innovation processes (β = 0.024, p > 0.05) was not properly applied and understood in the Nepalese telecom industry. The findings of this study will help identify the primary drivers of performance metrics and their relevance in organizational performance for the Nepalese telecom industry.

Internal Control Systems in Nepal: A Case of Nepal Telecom

The purpose of this study is to discover the efficacy of internal control system of Nepal Telecom. This study followed a case study research design, because it offers a deeper perspective and clearer understanding of the internal control system and its practices. The sample size of this study consisted of all the employees working at different level in Nepal Telecom. The convenience sampling method has been applied for selection of respondents. The researchers distributed 280 questionnaires out of them only 240 respondents returned usable questionnaires. This study was totally based on primary data. In order to make proper analysis descriptive and inferential statistics were used using SPSS software version 23. The finding of this study showed that the control environment, risk assessment, control activities, communication and monitoring affects perceived performance of organization. Effective internal control system helped to increase working efficiency also. The recommendations were made that the company should emphasize the required internal organizational management structure to be implemented. This is because of the internal organizational management structure positively affects the execution of strategies and policies, thereby achieving a sustainable competitive advantage and increment of profit.

Performance Measurement Practices in Nepalese Telecommunication Industries

The main aim of this study was to examine the existing performance measurement (PM) practices in the Nepalese telecommunication industries. Nepal Telecom and Ncell have been selected as a sample of the study. Primary data have been collected through structured questionnaires and telephonic interviews using a five-point Likert scale. The study revealed that Nepalese telecommunication industries had used financial and non-financial measures for performance measurement. The financial measure has got significant use and importance than the non-financial measures. Performance measures have been considered a key managerial tool for evaluating performance. The study revealed that performance measures in Nepalese telecommunication industries had been modified when there were changes in the organization's strategies.

Customer performance and non-financial organizational performance of the Nepalese cellular telecommunications industry

The study assessed a product or service by customers that met their needs and aspirations. It sought to examine the influence of non-financial customer performance (CP) measures on non-financial organizational performance (NFOP) in the Nepalese cellular telecommunications industry (NCTI). Using a structured questionnaire survey instrument, it employed a descriptive research approach. This study’s population included all the global system for mobile (GSM) customers of Nepal Telecom (NT) and Ncell. The sample comprised 385 customers delineated through non-probability sampling techniques. The study’s targeted respondents were postgraduate understudies, service holders, business people, and self-employed individuals. The survey instrument was composed of three sections comprising 28 data collection questions. A statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) and analysis of moment structures (AMOS) programming were used to analyze the collected data. The study applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), path analysis (PA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate the significance of the hypothesized paths. It was found that CP had a positive and significant relationship with NFOP in NCTI, with customer retention (CR) being a better predictor, followed by customer loyalty (CL), customer satisfaction (CS), and customer acquisition (CA). This was a cited representative study, not exhaustive, and would help to understand the key drivers of CP in the NCTI.

A study on FTTH implementation and migration in Nepal

The increasing demand of high speed data results into extensive enhancement on different telecommunication technologies through wireline and wireless technologies. Optical Fiber technology is being popular for fixed broadband technologies and for backhaul network data for network convergence and media device interaction. Fiber to the home (FTTH) is gaining momentum of deployments in many countries all around the world. Passive optical network (PON) utilizes point to multipoint (P2MP) topology and is becoming suitable, cost effective, and promising solutions as compared to existing copper based telecommunication infrastructure. PON architecture is cheaper than other architectures due to dynamic bandwidth allocation and common resources that can be used by different subscribers and especially for home subscribers. This paper presents a study on the effective deployment of PON based FTTH network at Nepal by referring the deployment scenario of Nepal Telecom (NT), while this network design, deployment, and implementation provides a lesson learn for cost effective deployment of such network to other stakeholders of developing countries having similar territory and implementation challenges.

Issues of Human Resource Management Practices on Organization Performance: A Case Study of Nepal Telecom

Objective: To identify and evaluate the impact of human resource practices on organization performance in service sector.
 Methods and Materials: Two main sources of data namely primary and secondary were used in the study. The primary data were collected through mail questionnaire method from 132 employees of Nepal Telecom organization for the study. The secondary source was through journals, textbooks and annual reports of Nepal Telecom.
 After collecting responses from 132 respondents, the data were analyzed through SPSS. The value of Cronbach’s Alpha (α) of overall questionnaire is 0.84, which suggests the reliability of primary data. Descriptive as well as explorative research designs were used to analyze the primary and secondary data.
 Results and Conclusion: The coefficient of determination between human resource practices and organization performance is 70.89%. There is strong correlation among all independent and dependent variables. All three independent variables are significant positive impact on dependent variable. The study concluded that there is a positive relationship between human resource practices and organization performance of Nepal Telecom organization.