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The programme, targeted at extending optical fibre links to all 75 districts within 2014, was started in 2009. But it could not be implemented for the lack of policy level decisions and the absence of a chairman at the NTA, according to the NTA.
“Since the project failed to take off, we are reviewing it to determine costing and areas to be linked,” said NTA Director Purshotam Khanal. He said the NTA had earlier planned to provide up to Rs 3.27 billion based on the lowest subsidy for the project, but now the cost could vary as fibre links have been established in many districts by telecom companies.
As per the original plan, the project was estimated to cost Rs 8.40 billion for building an optical fibre network of 6,291 km, including along the Mid-Hill Highway. The cost of district optical fibre project can go down as the government has been planning to avoid duplication of fibre routes developed by companies. For example Nepal Telecom (NT) has already taken optical fibre to more than 36 districts.
The infrastructure is must for extending broadband services to rural areas where licensees are reluctant to invest. NTA officials said they were planning fibre links only in districts which are yet to be linked.
They said the authority would hire an independent consultant within two months to ascertain the expansion plan and cost. As per the government plan, resources with the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF) will be utilised for the programme. The fund has around Rs 7 billion. In a bid to clear legal problems, the government last year amended the Telecommunications Policy 2004, paving the way for the NTA to implement the programme.
Even as the policy was clear, the government was not able to form a committee as provisioned. Based on the amendment to the policy, a committee under the coordination of NTA chairman comprising joint secretary level officials from the National Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Information and Communications, should be formed for utilising the RTDF resources. However, a case filed against the appointment of NTA Chairman Digambar Jha is under consideration of the Supreme Court for last one year.
The government has also been planning to use the RTDF money for initiatives like “Connect a School, Connect a Community” that aims spreading broadband services to government schools and community level.
Earlier, the NTA had planned the project implementation in two phases—first for the eastern and then for the western part of the country. A telecom operator or a consortium of telecom operators and internet service providers winning the bid for the western part were to be given a subsidy up to 90 percent of the project cost, and the subsidy for the eastern part was fixed 60 percent.
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