Nepal Telecom pays Rs 490m in spectrum fees for this fiscal
KATHMANDU, FEB 25 -
Nepal Telecom (NT) has paid Rs 490 million in spectrum fees to the government for the current fiscal year.
The company paid the charge last week for using additional and maximum spectrums based on the new provision in the Telecommunications Radio Frequency Distribution and Pricing Policy 2012 that came into effect three months ago. The policy has fixed minimum, additional and maximum frequency and telecom companies have to pay the fee for additional and maximum frequency assigned in advance.
“A total of Rs 490 million has been paid as per the calculation of the Nepal Telecom munications Authority (NTA) based on the new policy,”
said Guna Kesari Pradhan, spokesperson for NT. She added the amount includes the fee for the additional and maximum frequencies used in 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands.
The NTA has assigned more spectrums than government-set minimum frequency to NT and Ncell. In the new policy, the government has fixed minimum spectrum 2x6 MHz (in 900 MHz band) and 2x9 MHz (in 1800 MHz band) for mobile services. As for minimum spectrum, telecom companies have to clear the fee by the first three months of fiscal year.
NTA Deputy Director Ambar Sthapit said both NT and Ncell have paid the fee for extra frequency. He said NT was assigned 2X3.6 MHz more frequency than government-set minimum in the 900 MHz band. The company has also been using more than the government-set maximum frequency in the 800 MHz/CDMA band. As per NTA statistics, Ncell has been using additional spectrum in 900 MHz and 1800 MHz band for its GSM mobile service. NTA officials said although Ncell cleared fee for additional frequencies, including the charge for 3G spectrum, last week, NT has remained silent on 3G spectrum fee. Ncell recently paid Rs 1.44 billion in 3G fees for six fiscal years starting 2007-08. However, NT has paid only Rs 488.7 million in 3G spectrum fees, out of the outstanding Rs 1.44 billion as of the last fiscal year.
Pradhan said NT paid the 3G fee for the period starting after the commercial launch of the service in 2010. NT has informed the government to review the policy, citing inability to clear the fee, she said.
Meanwhile, NT has said it will soon expand the WiMax wireless broadband internet to Mid- and Far-Western development regions. Pradhan said the service will be taken to cities like Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi soon.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
