Nepal's teledensity has crossed the 100% mark, with total subscriptions exceeding 26.8 million, according to figures from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority.
The regulator's latest management information systems report shows that the penetration rate hit 101.4% by the middle of April, the Himalayan Times reported.
As of mid-April Nepal had 23.95 million mobile subscribers, 2 million on limited mobility or satellite phones and around 840,000 fixed line customers.
This translates to a mobile penetration rate of 90.4% when compared to a population of 26.49 million as of 2011. The extra teledensity can be accounted for by customers using multiple SIMs.
Data penetration has further to improve, reaching 41.3% by mid-April. The vast majority of data subscribers are GPRS, EDGE or W-CDMA mobile internet users.
Between them Nepal Telecom and Ncell have a combined market share of over 90%. Nepal Telecom, a state-owned operator, has around 12.5 million subscribers to fixed and mobile services, while private player Ncell has around 12.3 million GSM customers.
Smart Telecom, UTL, Nepal Satellite Telecom and STM Telecom Sanchar are competing for the remaining 10% of subscribers.
The report notes that only around 75% of total subscribers are considered active users. The regulator plans to conduct an inspection to help more closely determine the number of active users.