Although NTA had fixed fee of Rs 1.44 billion for the period between 2006 and 2012, the state-owned operator paid only Rs 480.70 million stating that it started commercial operation of 3G service in 2010 only.
As per the newly implemented Radio Frequency Policy 2012, NT needs to pay Rs 240 million a year for using 2X10 MHz of 3G spectrum for six years.
“We have clear 3G spectrum fee that we owed to NTA. We paid Rs 480.70 million to the telecom sector regulator as per the decision taken by our board meeting,” said Gunakeshari Pradhan, spokesperson for NT.
The state-owned operator has been saying that it incurred losses in the early years of 3G service operation. NT has also been saying that the determined fee was too high compared to the revenue it generated from the service.
NTA on November 22 asked both NT and Ncell to clear their outstanding dues till 2012/13 within three months
The frequency policy requires operators to clear fixed frequency fee within three months of the end of every fiscal year. However, because of the delay in the implementation of the policy, the government was failing to get any revenue from the service.
Ananda Raj Khanal, director of NTA, said both the operators will have to clear the dues as stated in the policy. Saying that NT has only made partial payment, Khanal said the regulator will direct NT to make full payment at the earliest.
Likewise, NTA has asked private operator Ncell to pay Rs 1.20 billion as 3G frequency fee.
The authority had assigned 3G spectrum to NT in 2006/07 and to Ncell a year later.
In the lack of policy on 3G frequency, both the operators had been operating the service without paying any fee to the government so far.
WiMAX Internet expanded to three more zones
KATHMANDU : Nepal Telecom (NT) has launched WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) Interne service in Lumbini, Gandaki and Dhaulagiri zones.
NT had launched the high speed broadband Internet service for corporate clients in Kathmandu Valley on November 12 and in Chitwan a month later. The state-owned operator plans to distribute 200,000 lines within a year, making the service available across Nepal.
Apart from these three new zones, WiMAX Internet is available in Kathmandu Valley, Kavrepalanchowk, Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha, Ramechhap, Chitwan and Makwanpur.
Spokesperson of NT Gunakeshari Pradhan said customers can use the service in other areas as well with the help of indoor Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). "The packages available till now are for corporate users only. We will introduce package for home users in the near future," she added.
Using WiMAX technology, NT aims to take high speed Internet to all VDCs by the end of this year. NT is offering minimum speed of 256 kbps under this technology.
Related story
NTA determines 5G frequency
