Apr 30, 2013

Automobile registration up 24pc


KATHMANDU, APR 30 -Registration of automobiles increased 24 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Transport Management.In the period between Mid-July 2012 and mid-April 2013, 159,532 vehicles, including two- and four-wheelers, were registered in the country. The figure was at 129,039 units in the same period last fiscal year.

Over the review period, motorcycle imports rose 22 percent to reach 135,482 units. The construction equipment segment posted a heavy growth of 166 percent in registration numbers, while the passenger car registered saw the lowest growth of 9 percent. The growth in registration of vehicles in all segments also pushed up the government’s revenue collection. The department collected Rs 3.6 billion in vehicle taxes, exceeding the target of Rs 3.4 billion for the first nine months.

Apr 28, 2013

Temporary TAC provision extended for third time


KATHMANDU, APRIL 28--The government has extended the temporary provision for issuance of type approval certification (TAC) to mobile handsets entering local market for the third time. The temporary provision allows mobile dealers to acquire the certification in an easy way without having to submit important documents.

Earlier in January, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), based on the direction of the Ministry of Information and Communications, had extended the provision until April 25. The temporary provision has made optional the submission of safety certification of the manufacturer and type approval certificate issued by an international regulator.

Issuance if a TAC to a handset model means that the particular phone meets the minimum regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Going by the Telecommunication Act 1997, mobile dealers are permitted to import and sell handsets only after they acquire the TAC from the NTA.

Apr 26, 2013

Govt failing to regulate mobile value added services


KATHMANDU, APR 26 -Despite numerous value added service (VAS) offerings from telecom companies, the government has failed to effectively regulate VAS in the absence of a standard guideline. As a result, customers’ complaints about unauthorised activation of such services are on the rise, according to a source at the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).

The NTA is the sole agency that issues permission to telecom service providers to operate VAS, which has comparatively high charge compared to other services. Even as the NTA issues permission, it doesn’t have any rules to regulate VAS and check if customers are being charged higher tariff.

“It’s high time the government regulated VAS as the trend of luring customers with new services is increasing,” said NTA Director Ananda Raj Khanal. He said the NTA is serious about the VAS issue and will make efforts to ensure that customers are not charged high.

VAS refers to services beyond the standard voice calls offered by telecom companies or third-party VAS provider, also known as content provider.

Apr 24, 2013

Bullion traders defy govt inspection


KATHMANDU, APR 24 -A majority of diamond, gold and silver dealers on Tuesday shut down their shops and took out a rally in protest of the government’s market monitoring drive.

After the New Road-based jewellerty traders protested the government move to close the shops allegedly involved in malpractice, a market monitoring team which had set out to inspect more jewellery shops on Tuesday suddenly called off the inspection. Most of the shops that were closed belong to the members of the Nepal Gold, Silver, Gem and Jewellery Federation. However, shops associated with Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Associations (Fenegosida), another organisation of gold dealers, remained open on the day.

Traders have accused the government of “terrorising” jewellery traders and customers in the name of monitoring rather than adopting standard norms to check possible irregularity in the market.

But the authorities stick to their guns, insisting that the government is preparing to file cases against the jewellery traders who were found cheating customers in weight and quality of goldand silvers products.

“Even as we could not monitor jewellery shops today, we will continue inspection as it is part of our regular job to control unethical practices,” said Narayan Prasad Bidari, director general of the Department of Commerce and Supply Management.

Irregularities rampant in local bullion market

KATHMANDU, APR 23 -Amid gold buying frenzy on the backdrop of price volatility in the last few days, some bullion traders have been found cheating customers, especially in weight and quality of gold and silver jewelleries.

On Monday, the government team comprising officials of Department of Commerce and Supply Management and Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) and police  seized weighing machines from jewellery shops in Kathmandu and tested samples for quality of gold and silvers products. The inspection was carried out amid complaints of black marketing and low-quality shortage of precious yellow metal.

A report of the quality test, carried out by the NBSM, shows customers are not getting the quality gold and silver products. Two jewellery shops—Shree Ganapati Jewelleries and RB Diamonds—were found using weighing machines without proper NBSM certification. Under the government rules, dealers must get their machines certified by the NBSM.

Apr 22, 2013

Unified telecom licence attracts flurry of court cases

KATHMANDU, APR 22 -Discussions on telecom issues are shifting from the board room to the courtroom with a series of cases being filed against the government’s unified licence and new spectrum policy. The uproar was triggered by the government’s plan to introduce a unified licence for varied services in the domestic telecom sector. The plan to bring new cellular mobile operators through a unified licence from among the small telecom companies operating presently has run into legal hurdles.

As of the present, seven cases have been filed at the Supreme Court (SC) against the government’s move. The unified licence permits telecom companies to operate multiple services including GSM mobile, freeing them from obtaining separate licenses for each of them. The unified licensing provision is seen as a bid to create a level playing field for all the existing telecom companies.

On Sunday, the court issued a show cause order in response to a writ filed by advocate Megh Nath Khanal demanding that the government stop implementing its decision regarding the unified licence. The court has asked the defendants to explain why the unified licence was being awarded.

Apr 16, 2013

Smart gets unified licence, SC stays spectrum policy


KATHMANDU, APRIL 16--Even as the Nepal Telecommunica-tions Authority (NTA) issued a unified licence to Smart Telecom on Monday, problems plaguing the new spectrum policy and the unified licence regime and the court battle over them continued. The Supreme Court on Monday issued an interim order to the government to immediately halt the implementation of the spectrum policy, while interestingly, the NTA issued the much-talked-about unified telecom licence to Smart Telecom based on the same policy.

The court was responding to a writ filed by advocate Dimod Shrestha on April 2, where he argues that telecom companies will benefit more from the policy than the government. Also on Monday, a fresh writ was filed in the SC, which sought an interim order against the unified licence regime, making it the third such petition against the licence regime in the last five months. Advocate Narayan Prasad Devkota’s writ against the decision to provide unified licence to Smart Telecom and United Telecom Limited argues that the recommendation of the NTA to the government to issue such licence s was a ‘mistake.’

Apr 10, 2013

CIAA clears way for unified telecom licence

KATHMANDU, APR 10 -The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has cleared way for the government to issue the unified telecom licence to interested small telecom companies.

After its investigation, the anti-graft body on Monday decided that the government can implement the Radio Frequency Distribution and Pricing Policy 2012. Two weeks ago, the CIAA had directed the government not to implement the policy, warning of possible loss in revenue from licence renewal fees fixed in the policy. The CIAA direction had virtually stopped the assignment of spectrum to companies, mainly affecting the government’s plan to issue the unified licence, also known as “basic telecom service” licence to United Telecom Limited (UTL), Smart Telecom and STM Telecom Sanchar.

On Tuesday, the CIAA issued a six-point directive to the Ministry of Information and Communications and implementing agency—Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)—which states that that the government must ensure licence renewal fees collection, competition in the market and level playing field to all telecom companies.

Apr 9, 2013

ICT: Making life easier

KATHMANDU, APR 09 -People from Palpa villages do not travel long distances for basic medical care these days. Thanks to affordable and easy access to telecommunications services, the villagers now consult health personnel through their mobile phones.

“Whenever we face health problems, we can get the solution with the help of mobile phone,” said Kul Bahadur Gaha of Gotari, Palpa .

This is an example of how advancement in technology has helped rural people get health services. Needless to say, technology has bridged the gap between rural and urban lives.

Rural telecom service provider Smart Telecom, in partnership with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Teaching Hospital, is offering “Smart Health Line” service which has benefited people from more than 250 villages of the country. “Smart Health Line” offers medical counseling services over the telephone from trained and experienced health professionals.

Due to the gradual decline in prices of ICT products and telecom equipment and increased competition in market, ICT-based services have become cheaper. Gone are the days when telecom companies charged mobile phone customers for incoming calls and the tariff for international calls was more than Rs 100 a minute. Now, one can call to countries like the USA, UK and Canada at less than Rs 2 a minute and making calls within the country costs less than a rupee.

Apr 7, 2013

NT mulls investment portfolio diversification



KATHMANDU, APR 07 -Cash-rich Nepal Telecom (NT) is exploring possibilities of diversifying its investment portfolio from its core telecom business.

A committee formed by the NT board is holding a study to suggest potential areas for investment. The committee is expected to come up with the report within a month. For the last few years, the company has also been planning to set up a subsidiary company to diversify investments in electricity generation, transmission and infrastructure sharing. “The NT board will decide on possible investment areas based on the report of the committee,” said a board member, adding the NT has the capacity to invest around Rs 35 billion from savings it has in various banks.

Two years ago, the country’s largest tax payer amended its memorandum of articles paving the way for investment in new sectors.

Apr 4, 2013

NTA apathy leaves mobile number portability in limbo


KATHMANDU, APR 04 -

The Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service, which the government had considered to introduce into the market, has remained in limbo for the last three years due to the lack of interest from the Nepal Telecom munications Authority (NTA).









The MNP service allows subscribers to retain their mobile numbers if they wish to switch from one operator to another over their dissatisfaction with the service quality or the tariff. The service has been effective in markets like India and Pakistan which have high rate of mobile penetration and fierce competition among mobile operators.


A study conducted by NTA in 2011 had concluded that the NMP could be introduced once the country’s penetration rate reaches 60 percent. The country has now witnessed an increase in total penetration rate of over 70 percentage 70 percent (including 63.72 percent of mobile users) as of Mid-February 2013. The study had also suggested making some changes to the existing telecom rules and replacing the zonal numbering plan with a national numbering plan to implement the MNP service.

Apr 3, 2013

Study of road network to improve transport mgmt


KATHMANDU, APR 03 -The government has started mapping the entire network of motorable roads in the country as part of its plan to implement scientific transport management. Over 500 routes including inner city roads will be studied under this programme which aims to improve smooth operation of vehicles.

Public vehicles currently operate on 432 routes. However; they have not been properly studied in terms of physical condition, exact length and the number of vehicles required to provide transport service on them. The study being carried out by the government will classify mountain, hill and Tarai roads, and fix public transport fares accordingly.

The mapping of the country’s routes will also help the government to issue route permits to public transport operators in a planned way, ending the haphazard system that prevails presently.

Apr 1, 2013

Government tightens the screws on contractors


KATHMANDU, APR 01 -The government has started tightening the screws on Mid-Hill Highway contractors with poor performance record.
The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has sought clarification from 21 contractors for their “negligible” progress on construction of road and bridges in the Western section of the Mid-Hill Highway.
The ministry has asked the contractors to submit clarification by Friday, showing valid reasons why they failed to work effectively. Publishing a notice, the ministry has also asked the contractors to furnish a “revised work schedule” for efficient implementation of the project, ministry officials said. “We are hopeful the contractors will take their responsibility seriously after this move,” said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the ministry. “Otherwise, we can blacklist the companies. If blacklisted, they will not get government contracts for one-three years.”