Speaking at the 12th anniversary function of NTA, officials including NTA Chairman Bhesh Raj Kandel expressed dissatisfaction over ´some of the companies´ providing poor services to their clients, but they did not say what the Authority itself was doing to safeguard consumer interests. [break]
"Some of the companies are extending seriously poor services. This is not fair," said Kandel. He even flayed the companies for demanding that NTA restrict the entry of new players in the market. Referring to the country´s low teledensity, which stands at 24 percent, he said there was still a huge space to welcome new operators.
Minister for Information and Communications Shankar Pokharel, on the other hand, asked NTA to give priority to the operation of broadband services. He also expressed concern over revenue leakage resulting from the misuse of international calls through VOIP bypass.
Representatives from Nepal Telecom (NT), Spice Nepal and United Telecom Limited (UTL), meanwhile, demanded that the government review the license period provisioned by law. Presently, the license period for a telecom company is set at 25 years. There are now six telecom operators in the country.
Surendra Thike, NT spokesperson, emphasized mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunications sector. UTL chief executive S Kannan highlighted how protracted power cuts had created problems for the operators.
Chandi Shrestha, Director of Spice Nepal, suggested the government welcome foreign companies that have expertise in building telecommunications infrastructure such as Base Tower Stations and Towers.
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