Score on scale of 100 ICT Indicator for Nepal Compared to select countries ( 2017) 80 60 40 20 0 Nepal Consumer Readiness Bangladesh India Availability of Relevant Content Vietnam Philippines Mobile Network Infra Source: We are Social, HootSuite Challenges with Nepal Internet maturity and development of ecosystem has been directly related to general prosperity and per capita income of population. Internet maturity across developed economies was observed to have contributed to an increase in real GDP by US$500 per capita on an average during 15-year study. The graph below shows the rate of internet penetration vs the per capita income of economies. Here the gap between Nepal’s current and potential per capita income can be observed relative to that of China, Philippines and Mexico. Source: World Bank; International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Nepal Telecom Authority Though Nepal has as a high internet penetration, per capita income remains low compared to most of its peers. The internet penetration in Nepal is primarily driven by 2G networks, accounting for 2/3 rd of the connection, while broadband connectivity including mobile and fixed remains below 30%. The broadband services are dominated by mobile broadband which accounts for more than 65% of 33