Speaking at the 17th anniversary of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), Sunil Bahadur Malla, secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC), said telecommunications service providers must provide quality service to their customers. “Service providers should focus on infrastructure sharing as it will help to reduce their investment on infrastructure. Then they can focus on enhancing quality of their service," Malla said.
Realizing the need for a comprehensive policy for information communication technology sector, NTA is currently working on draft of ICT Policy. It plans to forward the draft to the government for approval within two months.
“It will be easier for us to regulate ICT sector once the new policy is issued," Digambar Jha, chairman of NTA, said. He also said Broadband Policy is under consideration at the cabinet. Jha also urged telecommunications service providers to use latest technological advancements in ICT sector.
On the occasion, NTA felicitated its best performing staff members. Similarly, it gave away awards to winners of different games organized on the occasion of its anniversary.
Stating that the government is trying to take money collect in the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF), Achyutananda Mishra, chairman of Independent Employees Union of NTA, said NTA will not be able to introduce new technology if the fund is used by the government. "NTA is facing problems in regulating telecommunications service providers as it has only 40 staff members," he said, urging the government to create new posts in NTA.
Chairman JHA said NTW will use money collected in RTDF to develop necessary infrastructures in rural areas where service providers are unwilling to go.
'LABOR MINISTRY SHOULD MEDIATE IN UTL ROW'
Stating that around 500,000 customers of UTL are deprived of basic telecommunication service for the past three weeks, officials of Independent Employees Union of NTA urged the government to do the needful for resuming UTL services at the earliest.
UTL management and the agitating staff have agreed have forced consensus on most of the demands raised by the workers. The management, however, is still adamant in its decision to lay off workers.
"As UTL has applied for unified license, I see no reason why it should lay off staff. It needs more manpower to expand its service. Staff also made a mistake by shutting down essential service like telecommunication service," Chairman Jha said, "Both the management and the workers have made mistake."
Saying that customers are suffering due to conflict between the management and the workers, Jha said the labor ministry should step in and resolve the problem. "I am meeting Labor Secretary Bhola Prasad Shiwakoti on Thursday. We will try to end the stalemate," he added.
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