NTA directs telcos to come clean on schemes

KATHMANDU:

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has directed telecom companies to make public tariffs on offers and packages of voice services and the terms of reference (ToR) for subscribing such services.

The instruction was issued on Wednesday with a seven-day ultimatum based on the complaints of consumers being over-charged, according to the NTA. It holds six telecom operators — Nepal Telecom, Ncell, Smart Telecom, United Telecom Limited, Nepal Satellite Telecom and STM Telecom Sanchar — responsible in issuing a public notice by day after tomorrow, or this Wednesday, about their voice service and costs.

“We had issued the directive to this regard last Wednesday, however none of the companies seem to have issued such notice so far,” said Achyuta Nanda Mishra, assistant spokesperson for NTA. He added if the telecom companies do not follow the given instructions, the regulatory body can stop its facilitation and even impose a fine of up to Rs 500,000, as per the Telecommunications Act 1997.

In its direction, NTA has also asked the companies to implement a system within 15 days that would notify users of the amount charged each time they use the services. “Whether for voice or data service, customers should be informed,” said Mishra, adding that customers should also take information about the service or package from the companies while subscribing or buying their services.As of mid-December 2014, the combined customer based of the six telecom companies had reached 25.87 million, including 23.02 million mobile users. This has taken the total voice penetration rate of the country to 97.65 per cent. Likewise, there are 10.09 million internet users, which include more than 9.5 million customers using mobile data service.

Source:THT