KATHMANDU, NOV 07 -The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is preparing to inquire United Telecom Limited ( UTL ) about the latter’s delay in acquiring unified licence. The NTA board had decided to award the licence to UTL in April.
With UTL not obtaining the licence, the government’s plan to auction the third generation (3G) spectrum is yet to be materialised. Introducing the Spectrum Policy, also known as the Telecommunication Service Radio Frequency (Distribution and Pricing) Policy 2012, last year, the government had decided to auction the 3G frequency within a year after issuing at least two unified licences.
Till now, the NTA has granted only one such licence to Smart Telecom. Issuance of two unified licences are mandatory to auction the 3G spectrum. A senior NTA official said the authority is preparing to take the UTL issue to the NTA board. “We might also set a deadline for UTL to claim the licence,” the official said.
As per the Spectrum Policy, if at least two telecom companies fail to take the unified licence, 3G spectrum will be provided to Ncell, Nepal Telecom and Smart Telecom as per their demand in the existing price — Rs 240 million for 2x10 MHz a year without auctioning. Smart Telecom, which is working on its service expansion plan, has not demanded 3G frequency so far, according to the NTA.
“As there is only one unified licence holder, we will soon discuss the issue of 3G auction,” said Ananda Raj Khanal, acting chief of the NTA. He added the auction has not been easy as it requires enforcement with appropriate legal provision and depends on the demand from operators.
After the government decided to grant the licence six months ago, UTL had immediately made an up-front payment of Rs 102.7 million as licence fee. A UTL source said the company was preparing to furnish bank guarantee to pay the remaining licence fee on instalment basis.
Even as the UTL made the up-front payment for the licence, it has not corresponded with the NTA about its preparations to acquire the licence so far, according to Kailash Prasad Neupane, spokesperson for NTA.
The company is required to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 422.7 million and pay Rs 47 million each year up to nine years after getting the unified licence.
The Spectrum Policy was introduced last year with a focus on the auctioning of high value spectrum such as 3G and 4G, re-framing these resources, and carrying out regulatory monitoring on the use of airwaves by telecom companies. It had also talked about taking back frequencies from companies that are using more than the government- set limit, and fixing frequency for emergency telecommunication management. “We are doing homework for enforcing the policy effectively,” said Neupane.
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