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As the global telecommunications industry accelerates toward 6G and 5G becomes standard in many countries, Nepal is witnessing an unexpected surge in 2G network users, especially in rural areas.

According to data released by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), the telecom sector regulator, the number of 2G subscribers in the country more than doubled in the fiscal year 2024/25. Within the period, 2G users increased from 1.46m in mid-July 2024 to over 3.15m in mid-July this year—a jump of more than 1.7m users in just one year.

This rise stands in stark contrast to global trends and highlights the persistent digital divide within the country. While urban populations have largely moved on to faster networks like 4G, rural areas continue to depend heavily on basic 2G connectivity. This is not due to a lack of awareness about advanced technology, but rather to infrastructural limitations and the challenging geography of Nepal’s remote regions, say officials of NTA. 

In many rural areas, newer-generation networks are either unavailable or unreliable. This leaves local people with little choice but to rely on the aging 2G network.

Even as 2G sees renewed growth, Nepal Telecom, the state-owned telecom operator, announced plans to phase out its 2G services on the 1800 MHz band within this fiscal year to repurpose the spectrum for more advanced technologies and push for wider adoption of 4G and 5G.

Private player Ncell has also announced plans to discontinue 2G services in 2027. It plans to shut down 3G this year.

Progress on 5G, however, has been slow. Although NTA permitted Nepal Telcom to start 5G testing five years ago, the state-owned telco has not been able to roll out the service. Officials of Nepal Telecom, however, say that 5G testing will begin later this year with initial launches planned in Kathmandu and other major cities.    

Ncell, another major GSM operator, has temporarily put its 5G rollout plans on hold. CEO Jabbor Kayumov recently indicated that launching 5G is challenging under current conditions, pointing to a steady decline in telecom revenues over the past five years.

Lalbir Chaudhary has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Nagarik Unmukti Party.. 

A national gathering of the party held in Kathmandu decided to appoint Chaudhary as the party’s new  Chairperson, said Arun Kumar Chaudhary, lawmaker of the party. 

Lalbir is also a member of the House of Representatives.

The two-day national gathering was organized in Kathmandu from July 30. 

Lawmaker Arun Kumar shared that such a decision was taken after the party leader, Ranjita Shrestha, fueled indecision in the party and failed to hold central committee meetings for the past one-and-half-years. 

Meanwhile, Ranjita Shrestha, who was relieved from the post of Chairperson of the party, said the decision taken against the party statute would not be acceptable to her. 

"A new chairperson has been picked by calling a national gathering without informing me. It is against the party statute. I will resort to a legal recourse to it", she said.

Lalbir is the father of Resham Chaudhary, patron of the party.

In the life of an individual, graduation is a moment to cherish—forever. This holds true for a nation as well.

Come 2026 and Nepal is set to graduate from the club of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), a grouping of 44 countries from Africa (32), Asia (8), Caribbean (1) and Pacific (3), leaving behind its 54-year association with the club, as the club chair on her last legs.

Of the three criteria for graduation—gross national income (GNI) per capita, human assets index (HAI) and economic vulnerability index—Nepal has fallen a bit short of the first criteria but met the other two, becoming the first country to graduate without meeting the GNI criterion.

Let’s revisit Nepal’s scores against the three indices over the past decade.

In 2015, also the year of a massive Gorkha earthquake that left behind a trail of deaths and destruction, followed by a blockade, Nepal’s GDI per capita stood at a paltry $659 against the minimum threshold of $1248. In 2018, 2021 and 2024, its GDI stood at $745, $1027 and $1300 against the minimum thresholds of $1230, $1222 and $1306.

On the two other parameters, Nepal has consistently performed alright.

But, as they say, a miss is as good as a mile and this rings true on the GDI front, from 2015 to 2019 (the year of the Covid pandemic) and beyond.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, while addressing the National Assembly recently, when the ‘hallowed’ hall was fully awake (most probably), read the upcoming graduation in an albeit different light. According to the chief executive, this shows that the implementation of (his vision) ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’  has begun yielding results.

What does this graduation mean for the country and the people? Per the PM, the improvement in the parameters in question and the upcoming graduation is an indication of Nepal heading toward self-reliance and a rising global profile of the country.

While the graduation indicates that Nepal has grown richer, how much of the riches have trickled down to the bottom rung over the years is an open question.

Analyses suggest that graduation means Nepal will no longer have easy access to cheaper international loans, that it will impact international support and assistance that Nepal has been enjoying, the number of scholarships for Nepali students will go down and that the country will have to strive harder for bringing in foreign investment, so on and so forth.

Here’s hoping that our government will be able to make the best of the opportunities that come with the graduation as well as some shocks that come with it.

Experts say that diplomacy comes handy in such situations.   

Indeed, as Eleanor Roosevelt says, the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. 

The government has decided to accept a grant assistance of 2.8 billion Japanese Yen from the government of Japan for emergency reconstruction of the BP Highway damaged by the flood. 

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on July 28 decided to accept the grant assistance, government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Prithvi Subba Gurung said. 

Similarly, the government has also decided to accept concessional loan assistance equivalent to approximately Rs 18.92 billion from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group for the implementation of the third phase of the Rani Jamara Kulariya Irrigation Project. 

Likewise, as per the Cabinet decision, the government will entertain concessional loan assistance of USD 120 million (approximately Rs 16.74 billion) that includes USD 86.7 million of shorter maturity loan of 33.3 million of a concessional loan from the IDA of the World Bank Group for the Power Distribution Strengthening Programme  (PDSIP). 

The meeting also decided to accept a grant of Euro 20 million from the Government of Germany for the same programme.

Similarly, the meeting decided to endorse the 'Letter of Exchange' (LoE) to amend the Protocol of the Nepal–India Transit Treaty, 2023, and to authorize a government representative to sign the document on its behalf. As per the meeting agreement, Minister for Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation, Deepak Khadka is set to attend the 'National Forum on Pumped Storage Hydropower' scheduled to take place on September 8-10 in Paris of France. 

The government has decided to allow Secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Parashwar Dhungana to represent Nepal at the second session of the preparatory commission of the Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), which will be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 18-29 August 2025. 

Likewise, the government has decided to promote and appoint Man Bahadur Karki, the Associate Registrar of the Supreme Court, to the post of Registrar in the gazetted special category of judicial service as per the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission. 

Similarly, the Cabinet decided to promote and appoint SC's Registrar Bimal Paudel to the position of Chief Registrar in the gazetted special category of Nepal Judicial Service. 

According to Gurung, a decision has been made to grant permission for the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Gokarnamani Duwadi to participate in the 'Care for South Asia Project Completion and Dissemination Workshop' held in Bangkok, Thailand on July 29-31. 

Similarly, it has been decided to form a Nepali delegation to participate in the 'Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries' (LLDC-3) under the leadership of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during an official visit to Turkmenistan from August 3-8. 

The government has decided to appoint Dhrubaraj Bhattarai (Tanahun) as the Registrar of the Nepal Engineering Council. 

The government has decided to grant theoretical approval for the draft bill to amend and integrate the national youth-related laws. 

Also, the government has made a decision to exempt salutation costs levied in 97 mountains which have been opened for climbing activities in Karnali Province and Sudurpashchim Province. 

The Cabinet has decided to appoint Dr Ujjwal Chalise as the Executive Director of Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital Development Committee. 

Prime Minister KP Sharma inaugurated the 'FIFA Football for Schools' campaign today. 

During the inaugural ceremony organized by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) at the Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu, the Prime Minister said the government accorded priority to the further development of the sports sector. 

He also announced to build an advanced stadium in Suryabinayak of Bhaktapur.  

It is said that under the campaign around 1,000 school students will be freely provided with football besides specialized training to school teachers and football team coaches. 

Police have arrested a person for his alleged involvement in killing a 15-year-old girl. 

The arrestee has been identified as Rambabu Shah (35) of Ichhapur of Kshireshwornath Municipality-9. 

Anjali Kumari Yadav of Bateshwor Rural Municipality-5 in Dhanusa was found murdered at her rented room in Kataiyachauri of Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City-4 on Monday. 

Prior to this, Yadav had spent a five-year jail term for murdering his spouse, police said. He was released some five years ago. 

Anjali's mother and another 14-year-old girl have been injured in the attack and are being treated at the Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences.

Police are further investigating the case.

An M23 rebel attack on farmers and other civilians in east Democratic Republic of Congo killed 169 people earlier this month, a U.N. body told Reuters, in what would be one of the deadliest incidents since the Rwanda-backed group's resurgence, Reuters reported.

M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa told Reuters it would investigate but the report could be a "smear campaign".

The U.N. rights body's account has not been previously reported and emerged as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration pushes for peacebetween Congo and Rwanda that it hopes will unlock billions in mineral investments, according to Reuters.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today held discussions with the leaders from two major ruling partners, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML. 

The Prime Minister, who also serves as the UML Chair, held the meetings at the Prime Minister's official residence, Baluwatar. 

NC President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, NC Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka,  UML Vice Chair and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Bishnu Prasad Paudel, NC leader and Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak  and the Prime Minister's chief advisor Bishnu  Prasad Rimal were present on the occasion.