KATHMANDU, OCT 03 -The Nepal Telecommuni-cations Authority (NTA) is mulling to come up with a ‘white paper’ aimed at further expanding the telecom sector. Although the sector has emerged as big business, the government does not have any specific strategy to lead the sector forward.
Despite conducting a report in 2010, that outlined a 10-year master plan to develop the sector, the NTA board failed to finalise and endorse the proposal.
According to NTA officials, the white paper would cover strategies on prudent management of the spectrum, prepare necessary rules on time, implement the broadband policy, assign spectrum to new mobile operators, the auction of 3G and 4G spectrums, among others.“The white paper will be the guideline for carrying out telecom sector related activities in a highly predictable manner,” said Ananda Raj Khanal, acting chief of the NTA.
He said that with the paper they would focus on maximising the use of resources, like radio frequency, for development in the sector, helping the government generate more revenue. “All the members in the stop-gap committee of the NTA, that has been given the power to reach a decision in the absence of the NTA chairman, are positive on issuing the white paper by hiring an independent consultant,” said Khanal.
For a long time, the government has been planning to implement a provision for the sharing of telecom infrastructures, as well as devising a rule for the establishment of a separate company for this purpose. But, these plans have failed to materialise due to a delay from the government in formulating appropriate rules.
Guidelines on the construction of telecom antenna, quality of service regulations, and certification of handsets have also remained pending. For the last five years, the authority has not been able to instigate discussion regarding the broadband policy, adversely affecting broadband service development and expansion works.
The NTA officials said that controversies over the last year left the sector in a stagnant position. Difficulties regarding the appointment of the NTA chairman, the unified licence and spectrum cases filed in the Supreme Court are among the issues facing the telecom authority.
With the Supreme Court legitimising the government’s decisions, including the formation of the ad-doc committee, the telecom regulator has begun holding meetings and making decisions regarding the issues that had remained unresolved.
Last week, the telecom authority’s committee assigned an operator code and spectrum to Smart Telecom, opening the way for the company to roll out its GSM service. After acquiring the unified licence, Smart Telecom has become the third mobile service operator authorised to operate multiple telecom services, including cellular mobile.
On Tuesday, the committee decided to issue an internet service provider’s licence to three companies. On Wednesday, it discussed the proposed annual programme of the NTA for the current fiscal year. Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court had scrapped all the cases related to the unified telecom, the committee, and the spectrum policy. However, a case regarding the appointment of Digambar Jha as NTA chairman is still in the court.
No comments:
Post a Comment