By Aashish Mishra

Kathmandu, Mar. 22: From Thursday afternoon, people calling any number of the Nepal Telecom network have been hearing a special message instead of their usual Caller Ring Back Tone (CRBT). The message informs callers about the symptoms of COVID–19 and encourages them to take certain preventative measures.
Nepal Telecom, known popularly as NTC, showed exceptional efficacy in the case of the message, in line with the broader alertness shown by the government. “The message is our way of helping raise public awareness about the disease,” said Rajesh Joshi, spokesperson of NTC.
He explained just how quickly the organisation made and implemented the decision. “We held a meeting Thursday morning, tested the system the same day at 11 AM and it went live by noon.”
According to Joshi, the decision to change the CRBT was made at NTC’s own discretion. “We felt it was our social responsibility to do something at the time of this crisis,” Joshi shared.
Meanwhile, Ncell, the second largest telecommunication service provider of the country after NTC, initiated its public awareness campaign more than two weeks ago through text messages and Out-bound Dialling (OBD) calls.
According to the telecom company, it started its awareness campaign from March 3, as soon as it received a request from the Ministry of Health (MoH) through the Nepal Telecommunications Authority.
Under the campaign, the company has been sending near daily messages to its subscribers about COVID-19, its symptoms and precautions to be taken. It also sends out OBD calls wherein a person receives a phone call and when they pick it up, they hear a pre-recorded message about how to safeguard themselves from the virus.
According to Ncell, the messages it sends out are verified and follow the guidelines set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). All its messages are also MoH approved.
The mobile service provider further informed that it had sent out 23.5 million text messages (SMS) and 10.35 million OBD calls until Thursday.
However, the people on the receiving end of these messages from NTC and Ncell seem to have mixed reactions about them.
Radha Thapa Magar, a user of both NTC and Ncell SIM cards, lauds these efforts by the telecom companies. “Hearing good and accurate information in CRBT or getting SMS on the phone ensures that those who do not see the news are also exposed to
credible messages,” she said.
However, Aabhash Shrestha, an Ncell

subscriber, found it irritating. “I get the same message every day; and also, sometimes I rush to receive a phone call, only to find it an OBD.”
Magar also pointed out a gap in NTC’s CRBT campaign. “When the other person picks up the call, the message gets cut off and we do not get to hear the full audio,” she said.
Regardless of their views, both Magar and Shrestha accept that telecom operators have taken up a commendable step and this will contribute to increasing public awareness and undercutting some of the misinformation that people are getting

through platforms like the social media.
With respect to the length of the campaign, both NTC and Ncell informed that they have no plans to end the campaign just yet. Both the companies are monitoring the situation and analysing the usefulness of these messages. The campaign will end only when the situation improves.