NTA plans to collect frequency fees from NT and Ncell
KATHMANDU, NOV 23 -
The government is planning to collect frequency fees from telecom operators after unveiling of a new frequency policy. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has stated that it would ‘immediately write’ to Nepal Telecom (NT) and Ncell to pay over Rs 3 billion fee for third generation 3G spectrum.
As per the Telecommunications Radio Frequency Distribution and Pricing Policy 2012, endorsed recently by 17th meeting of the Radio Frequency Policy Determination Committee, both the operators will have to pay Rs 12 million per MHz for 3G frequency. The NTA had assigned 2x10 MHz paired spectrum for downlink and uplink for 3G service to the NT and Ncell on May 29, 2006, and July 29, 2007 respectively.
The amount will also be the base rate for 3G frequency auctioning in the future. However, the new policy stipulates that the existing operators pay floor price as spectrum fee from the first fiscal year until the government set a new fee for spectrum through auction.
Addressing a programme to inform about new policy on Thursday, Minister for Information and Communications Raj Kishor Yadav said that the operators would have to pay a fee of Rs 240 million to the government for 3G spectrum. “The price is set keeping in mind the local telecom market capacity and auctioning among other operators in future,” added Yadav, who also chairs the Frequency Determination Committee.
The government plans to bring on at least two more 3G service operators after auction of spectrum among the existing four telecom companies—United Telecom Limited, Nepal Satellite Telecom, Smart Telecom and STM Telecom in the future. The government would make available 2X40 MHz band after spectrum re-farming. The two operators—NT and Ncell—are currently using 3G spectrum without any fee as the government has not yet set a fee.
“We will immediately ask both the operators giving specific period to clear their 3G spectrum fee for up to current fiscal year,” said Ananda Raj Khanal, officiating chairman of the NTA, revealing that the NT would have to pay spectrum fee for seven and Ncell for six years beginning from fiscal year 2006/07 and 2007/08 respectively.
According to the NTA, the state-owned telecom company is liable to pay Rs 1.68 billion for 3G spectrum. Likewise, Ncell has to pay Rs 1.44 billion. A report prepared by the dissolved parliamentary Public Account Committee last year had stated that the allocation of 3G spectrum to operators at free of cost without adopting auctioning provision had incurred a loss of Rs 7-10 billion.
Yadav said that the new policy would help the government generate comparatively more revenue adopting frequency auctioning provision as suggested by the PAC. He also said that the new policy gave equal footing to all telecom operators encouraging to apply for unified licence which would ultimately make local market a competitive one to offer services at cheaper rate among users.
Apex court clears way for MoIC
The Supreme Court on Thursday gave go ahead to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC)to appoint chairman and a member in the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA). Rajiv Rauniyar, applicant for both posts, had filed a writ petition at the court seeking stay order on selection procedure.
After the court’s decision, the Communications Ministry said that it would recommend names to the government. “We will recommend three names after holding an interview of potential candidates by the end of next week,” said Surya Prasad Situala, secretary at the ministry.
After an interview, a selection committee under the coordination of Secretary Silwal had last month recommended names of government officials Dhan Raj Gyawali, Maniram Ojha, and Ranjan Krishna Aryal for the post of member. However, the committee attracted criticism for suggesting names of government’s own officials instead of considering other experts.
