NT’s licence to operate mobile service will expire on May 11 this year. Despite Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)’s call to pay Rs 20 billion renewal fee, Nepal Telecom has been refusing to pay the full renewal charge. In February, it had
applied for renewing the permit paying Rs 189 million partially and had also sought government intervention.
Amid the indecision, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) recently formed a study committee to recommend the government a fee provision for licence renewal. “An eight-member committee under the coordination of MoIC Secretary Suman Prasad Sharma will suggest the fee for mobile licence renewal of NT,” said Umakant Parajuli, spokesperson of MoIC.
The committee is expected to come up with its report before the deadline of NT’s licence renewal. In case it fails to do so, the committee might also recommend an interim provision, according to Parajuli. Other members in the committee include two board members of NTA Mahesh Prasad Adhikari and Dhan Raj Gyawali, NTA’s Acting Chief Ananda Raj Khanal, MoIC’s Joint Secretary Sushil Kumar Ojha, Under Secretaries Anup Nepal and Phanindra Gautam and a joint secretary from the Ministry of Law and Justice.
As Sharma is the new MoIC secretary and also chairman of the NT board, recently the NT management had briefed him about the licence renewal fee issue and instruction of the regulator. “We are hopeful that MoIC will reach a conclusion regarding the fee before the deadline,” said Guna Keshari Pradhan, spokesperson of NT.
It is mandatory to get the permit renewed from NTA to allow NT to operate mobile service for the next five years, that is till May 2019. This is the second renewal of mobile service operation permit of the company and whatever fee size the government decides on, it will be applicable for other operators like Ncell and Smart Telecom.
MoIC said that the study was being conducted as per the direction of the then parliamentary committee — Public Accounts Committee (PAC) — three years ago. PAC at the time had asked the government to charge Rs 20 billion for licence renewal for the first time and set the fee for the second time based on international practices. NT’s licence was renewed for the first time in 2009 and the company is currently paying Rs 20 billion fee for it in installment as provisioned by the government last year. Ncell is getting its licence renewed for the first time in August this year which will permit it to operate mobile service for the next five years.
An official at NTA said that the committee headed by MoIC secretary who is also chairman of NT had to be more careful as it was a matter of huge revenue to the government. “As Sharma is the coordinator of the committee, the study must not be biased,” he added.
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