NT employees union slams unified licence system
KATHMANDU, FEB 21 -
The Nepal Telecom (NT) employees’ union has demanded that the government annul the unified licence provision and instead bring new operators through competition. The demand follows government plans to issue unified licences to United Telecom Limited (UTL) and Smart Telecom.
A unified licence allows a company to provide multiple telecom services like local telephone, domestic trunk telephone, international long distance and cellular mobile telephone.
On Tuesday, the Telecom Employees’ Association of Nepal (TEAN) submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Nepal Telecom munications Authority (NTA) asking them not to issue such permits which benefit “limited persons and institutions”. On Wednesday, the association also sent copies of the memorandum to the secretaries of the Defence, Home and Civil Aviation ministries who are members of the Radio Frequency Policy Determination Committee.
“This provision is against telecom laws which require licence issuance through bidding,” said Shree Ram Pokhrel, general secretary of the TEAN. “Moreover, the Communications Ministry and the NTA have initiated preparations to issue the licence without waiting for the final verdict of the Supreme Court.”
Two separate writ petitions have been filed at the apex court seeking cancellation of the new telecom licensing regime. Even though the court gave special priority to the writ last month, it is yet to give a final ruling. The government had introduced the provision in May last year in what it said was a bid to provide a level playing field to small telecom companies like UTL, Smart Telecom, STM Telecom and Nepal Satellite Telecom.
As per NTA officials, UTL and Smart Telecom have applied for the licence. The authority is currently re-verifying the eligibility of Smart Telecom for the permit.
Meanwhile, NT employees have protested against the plan saying that issuing licences without competition would affect government revenue collection from licence fees and also leave a negative impact on NT’s competitiveness.
Pokhrel said that since the local market was small, companies obtaining the licence would also not be able to pay the licence renewal fee of Rs 20.13 billion at once as required by the government. A company which receives the licence has to pay a preset Rs 357.5 million for the licence and Rs 20.13 billion as licence renewal fee at the end of 10 years.
A senior NTA official said that a unified licence was the best option for the existence of small companies and expanding the choices for telecom customers.
The new licence provision is also linked with 3G service. As per the new frequency policy introduced four months ago, companies acquiring the licence will be eligible to take part in the 3G spectrum auction and start service. Currently, Nepal Telecom and Ncell are providing 3G service.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
