Nepal Telecom (NT) is set to distribute 30,000 more pre-paid mobile telephone lines in Kathmandu Valley from January 14.

Reports quoted Chief of the New Service Directorate of the NT, Madan Kaji Shakya, as saying that new mobile phone lines would be distributed within a period of one week between January 14 to January 20 to customers who had submitted application forms between October 10 and October 24 2005, according to reports.

After completion of the proposed distribution, the NT is planning to start distributing pre-paid mobile lines on a regular basis, which means mobile lines would be made available on demand, he said.

Around 120,000 clients have already applied for pre-paid sim cards, and hundreds of others are waiting for NT to start its distribution.

NT, which had started distributing pre-paid lines from August/September 2003, has already issued more than 200,000 pre-paid sim cards till date.

Although NT has replaced the old 2G GSM network with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) – which has the capacity of distributing one million lines, it has not been able to issue lines based on demand as the new system has not yet come into full operation.

He, however, said that NT would complete installing the rest of the components within the next three weeks. And once the process is complete, people wishing to issue NT’s pre-paid cell phone lines can apply for the service at any time of the year and get connection instantly.