NTA union demands alternative chair
KATHMANDU: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)’s Independent Employee Union has demanded that the government appoint an alternative chairman within two weeks. It has prevented the existing NTA board members from holding meetings and also demanded probe into the board’s decisions.
The union recently met Minendra Rijal, minister for information and communications, and submitted a five-point memorandum that includes demand for a stopgap chairman. In absence of NTA chairman, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) had earlier made a legal provision, based on which existing board members can take required decisions.
“Until the Supreme Court (SC) gives verdict on the NTA chairman, an alternative chairman equipped with full power should be appointed for speedy regulatory works,” said Achyuta Nanda Mishra, president of the NTA employee union. He alleges the current board members have been making decisions to cater to the vested interests of ‘certain operators’ at the cost of the entire telecom sector.
The telecom regulator has been without a chairman for about last two years. The next hearing on NTA chairman’s case is scheduled for October 27.
After the apex court issued stay order against appointment of Digambar Jha as NTA chairman, the MoIC had formed a committee, including four members of the NTA board, as a stopgap measure, by activating Clause 60 of Telecommunications Act 1997. The clause has a provision of removing difficulties in implementing the Act by issuing an order in the Nepal Gazette.
Mishra said that the government should scrap the current provision introduced through Clause 60 and give a fill-in chairman within November 1 from among the senior officials of NTA or MoIC, by issuing another order.
The union has also announced of launching a protest programme beginning November 2, if their demands are not addressed. The scheduled protest programme includes organising sit-ins to completely shutting down the NTA office on November 7. The union has warned more aggressive programmes would follow thereafter, if the government continues to ignore their calls. MoIC officials said that even though some of the union’s demands are logical, they have no other option than to wait until October 27.
Owing to absence of chairman and current board unable to work effectively, development of telecom sector has lagged and the government is also losing revenues from service expansion and auctions of spectrum. A five-year-old plan of utilising resources of Rural Telecommunication Development Fund for projects like extending optical fibre links to district headquarters is also pending. Also, frequency auctioning for 3G and 4G telecom services has been delayed. The union has accused the management of stalling annual plans every year, rather focusing on foreign tours and hiking allowances of board members.
In the memorandum, the union says the board members and management neglected their previous 15-point demands put forth five months ago and failed to crack down on United Telecom Limited (UTL) for failing to collect its united licence. The union has alleged that the spectrum, which is supposed to be assigned to UTL after the latter collects the licence, is being assigned to other operators at minimal charges. NTA had decided to issue the licence to UTL in April last year; however, the company is yet to collect it.
Source: THT
