KATHMANUD, Feb 4: Bowing under intense pressure from the government to clear due royalties, Spice Nepal, the operator of Mero Mobile in Nepal, has paid 219.4 million rupees to the government.
A government official informed myrepublica.com that the company paid the amount last week, claiming the amount was 4 percent of the gross annual income made of the operator. However, the official has asked the company to submit documents to testify that the amount it submitted was 4 percent gross national income of the company. [break]
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Spice Nepal, which started business in Nepal in September 2004, had agreed to pay either 4 percent of income or yearly royalties fixed at Rs 15 million, whichever was higher, in the first year of operation. The amount was to go up to Rs 42 million in the second year of operation.
Likewise, the company, which is the second largest mobile phone operator in the country with around 1.6 million subscribers, had promised to raise royalties to Rs 100 million in the third year, to Rs 200 million in the fourth, and Rs 265 million in the fifth year. So far, Spice Nepal has paid Rs 150 million.
Earlier, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) upon a request made by the Ministry of Finance, suspended Spice Nepal’s major bank transactions, for its alleged failure to clear royalties to the government that it agreed upon while acquiring its mobile phone operating license. The suspension mainly barred Spice Nepal from enjoying foreign exchange facilities.
In September 2008, TeliaSonera, a leading Nordic telecom operator, acquired a 51 percent stake in TeliaSonera Asia Holding BV from Kazakhstan´s Visor Group, which had an 80 percent stake in Spice Nepal.
