About us
About Nepal Internet Foundation
Nepal
Internet Foundation (NIF) is a research and development forum that supports and
performs technical and geographical research in the context of Nepal to build up
Infrastructure and to reach the Internet within the country. NIF has its main
objective of contributing towards the transformation of the society to overcome
the challenges of digitalization in Nepal. The core values of the foundation
sets on prioritization and implementation of better policies, cyber laws and
importance of the internet towards society and its betterment. Our goal is to
ensure that the use of the internet shall be used with liberties in a secure
environment, and ease accessibility, supported by the laws and constitution of
Nepal.
We envision a society where the people are empowered by the use of the internet and each individual regardless of the country, location, language, age or income shall be able to communicate and collaborate with each other to improve their lives and community. The NIF supports the concepts and ideas to mitigate the gap that occurs towards content, research and technology in favor of internet & communication among people. The foundation works closely with individuals, communities, government, NGO’s, INGO’s and the private sector to leverage the potential use of Internet and communication among us.
The Nepal Internet Foundation is working to address access and infrastructural issues with internet connectivity in Nepal. According to UNCTAD stats and the DataReportal database 2023, only 51.6% of the population in Nepal has access to the internet. Social media statistics for Nepal in 2023 show that 38.57% of the population has internet access, while the overall social media user is 12.60 million. The country has experienced significant progress in internet connectivity, with the first telephone exchange in Kathmandu in 1913 and the first optical fiber connection between Nepal and India in 1997. However, the country faces challenges such as dependence on neighboring countries for connectivity, high costs in infrastructure development, and limited ISPs. To address these issues, the foundation is working on creating a business case for CDNs to come on their own cost, creating more local content and e-commerce, creating a compelling regulatory framework, exploring the possibility of right of way through to third countries, and attracting more upstream providers to connect at the border.
