Telecom regulator flouts rule book to issue permits to UTL, Smart Telecom
KATHMANDU, MAY 14 -
The Nepal Telecom munication Authority (NTA) has decided to issue unified licence to Smart Telecom and United Telecom Limited (UTL) going against the criteria published in the Nepal Gazette.
According to the Gazette, only those companies that have completed service expansion in the government designated areas and paid outstanding dues are eligible for the unified licence.
However, the NTA board on April 11 decided to issue a unified licence to Smart Telecom despite the company not having completed the service expansion in the areas fixed by the government.
Likewise, the NTA decided to issue a unified licence to UTL even though the company is yet to clear the dues to the government. The NTA decision to issue the unified licence to UTL was based on the then Baburam Bhattarai-led government’s decision to collect over Rs 1 billion royalty in eight installments in eight years.
A copy of NTA decisions made available to the Post show that first meeting of the NTA board after Digambar Jha became NTA chairman had decided to monitor base transceiver stations (BTS) of Smart Telecom based on limited mobility service provided in 25 districts to issue the unified licence. However, the NTA was supposed to check BTS in 398 village development committees across 40 districts, where Smart Telecom was assigned to take at least two lines of its service.
The government set criteria in the Gazette clearly states, “If any area is designated for making any service available, such conditions have to be fulfilled.”
According to the NTA, Smart Telecom had a total of 171 base transceiver stations (BTS) in 25 districts. Out of them, 11 were under construction and many BTS were not in operation due to lack of electricity.
NTA sources said that even if the officials who monitored the BTS showed faults in their reports, the final report presented to the board was revised “intentionally”.
“Smart Telecom has not fulfilled the criteria needed for the unified licence,” a source added.
The NTA report on BTS monitoring in four districts-Kavrepalanchowk, Sindhupalchowk, Sindhuli and Makawanpur- shows that out of 32 BTS or towers installed only 16 were in operation.
Immediately after his appointment as NTA chairman, Jha had intensified preparation to issue the unified telecom licence. However, the Supreme Court issued a stay order against Jha ruling that he did not possess the required qualifications for the post and a stop-gap board was formed.
While deciding to issue the unified licence, the NTA board had also decided to bring all its 171 towers into operation within three months after setting the new criteria. It showed that the NTA board changed the criteria endorsed by the Cabinet for companies eyeing the unified licence. Even the company’s website has mentioned that its service coverage had reached to only 365 VDCs in the country.
Having received the licence, Smart Telecom is now doing internal preparations to roll out service. UTL so far has not received the licence after Supreme Court issued the stay order against the NTA decision.
Four companies-UTL, Smart Telecom, STM Telecom Sanchar and Nepal Satellite-had applied for the unified licence.
According to NTA sources, STM Telecom was found ineligible for the licence as the company had no sufficient BTS in the government assigned areas to make available the service. The NTA while deciding to issue licence to Smart Telecom had said that it would ultimately issue the licence to STM Telecom too once the company complete tower installation.
“Even though the government wanted to issue the licence to all four companies, none of them meet the criteria fixed in the Gazette,” the source added.
Introduced a year ago, the government’s unified licence provision is aimed at allowing small telecom companies to run nationwide multiple telecom services, including GSM mobile under a single licence. Currently only Ncell and Nepal Telecom have been providing GSM mobile service.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
