Speaking at an interaction on 4G spectrum with experts in Kathmandu on Monday, Digambar Jha, chairman of NTA, said the process of allocating 4G spectrum, which was affected in the absence of chairman, has already started. "4G needs to be rolled out in most of the urban areas as demand for high speed Internet is growing. I would like to assure all that we will soon be work in this line so that operators can launch the service and customers can benefit from it," said Jha.Bhesh Raj Kanel, former chairman of NTA, suggested to NTA to make spectrum neutral so that operators have the freedom to operate any kind of service. "Operators should be asked to come up with roll out plan. To discourage the tendency of holding spectrum, NTA should ask operators to furnish their roll out plan and penalize them if they do not work as per the plan," Kanel said, adding that NTA's first priority should be to auction off spectrum in 2.3 GHZ band allocated for 4G service.
Binay Bohara, president of Internet Service Providers' Association of Nepal (ISPAN), urged NTA to auction spectrum in 2.3 GHz band at the earliest saying that Nepal Telecom has been providing WiMax service from the spectrum for the past four years.
Keshab Raj Gyawali, deputy manager at UTL, however, said 700 MHz band would be the best option for 4G in the initial phase. "NTA can also provide the option of allocating 4G frequency to at least three operators in a package from different bands," said Gyawali.
Lena Keshari Kansakar of Ncell said NTA should do sufficient homework before providing spectrum for the operators to launch 4G service. "NTA should first work out the size of 4G spectrum to be allocated to the operators," she added.
Mani Chaulagain, former CEO of Nepal Satellite Telecom, said NTA should start work for auctioning spectrum for 4G service very soon. Stating that 4G service in 700 MHz band will be expensive for general public, he said NTA should auction spectrum in 2300 MHz.
Gary Yu, global telecommunication expert from Huawei Technologies Nepal, said spectrum allocation for 4G can generate higher GDP for the country. GDP contribution in the world by mobile technology was US$ 3 trillion in 2014 and it is expected to grow to $4 trillion by the end of 2020," he added. Yu suggested selling spectrum either by price auctioning, beauty contest (comparative tender) or through assignment.
Saying that Nepal's broadband price is high, speed is slow and data penetration is low, Yu recommended NTA to expedite works on spectrum refarming and allow operators to choose the spectrum.
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