As per the existing legal provision, NT needs to pay Rs 20.13 billion to renew the permit for the next five years. However, NT has balked at paying the fee claiming that it is too high. Other telecom operators are closely watching the row as they will have to pay the same amount.
The Ministry of Information and Communications is putting together a nine-member team which will travel to India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand to study their legal provisions regarding the renewal charge. Ministry Secretary Dhruba Prasad Sharma will lead the team. The Nepal Telecommunica-tions Authority ( NT A) has set aside a budget of Rs 3 million for the jaunt.
Secretary Sharma, three other officials from the Information Ministry, Acting Chief Ananda Raj Khanal, Spokesperson Kailash Prasad Neupane, board members Dhan Raj Gyawali and Mahesh Prasad Adhikari from the NT A and an official from the Law Ministry are in the delegation, according to a ministry source. The size of the group is higher than what the cabinet approved last year for such visits. The cabinet had approved sending a six-member team.
The NT A’s Khanal said that they were yet to make a final decision on the visit. “The team is going there on a study tour as per the recommendation made by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee two years ago,” he added. The team will also study other complex issues like auctioning of spectrum and convergence framework of telecommunications.
However, officials from the ministry and the NT A are not happy with the decision to send such a large team. “Instead of a high-level committee and a foreign tour, we need a team of experts and officials concerned with the issue,” said a ministry official. “It is just a waste of time and money.”
As per NT A rules, NT has to apply to renew its licence three months before it expires, that is May 2014. Due to the huge sum involved, NT has been hesitating to pay the fee. Last year, the cabinet allowed GSM operators to pay the renewal fee in instalments to operate the service for a period ranging from 11 to 15 years. After obtaining a licence for the first time, operators are allowed to operate their services for 10 years. NT has been allowed to pay the renewal fee of the last five years until current licence expires.
Meanwhile, private sector GSM operator Ncell has also started paying the licence renewal fee for 10-15 years in instalments in advance although its service period has not crossed 10 years. Its 10-year GSM mobile licence ends in August 2014. Similarly, Smart Telecom, which recently received a unified licence to operate GSM and other telecom services, is required to pay the same amount.
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