Though the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had agreed to provide US$ 9 million for the project under the South Asian Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) information highway project in 2009, implementation was delayed due to lack of collaboration of implementing agencies for ADB projects in the beneficiary countries.[break]
Sushil Ojha, joint secretary at MoIC who is also the coordinator of the project, and representative of the Korean firm signed the deal.
The Korean company had quoted Rs 370 million to implement the project. As per the agreement, Icraft will have to set up 30 community e-Centers in rural areas of Nepal and lay down 170 km optical fiber cable connecting Banepa and Barbibas within 10 months.
Chinese firms Anhui and ZTE had also vied for the project.
Although the optical fiber link will stretch over 500 km up to Siliguri of India, the company will lay down the cable skipping the sections where fibers links have already been laid down Nepal Telecom (NT).
“As per the project implementation mechanism, NT, as the state-owned operator, will work as a service agency,” Anup Nepal, under secretary at the ministry, told Republica. Nepal also said NT is entrusted to oversee operation and maintenance of e-Centers established under the project.
NT has already signed contract with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) of India, Bangladesh Telecom Company (BTC) of Bangladesh and Bhutan Telecom of Bhutan to establish bilateral interconnections through fiber link.
The project will become a milestone in the country´s ICT sector as it will provide backbone bandwidth of 10 Gbps. NT can use up to 60 percent of the capacity of the infrastructure, whereas remaining capacity can be utilized by the government to implement other IT related projects. The project will also enable NT to enjoy better revenue at cheaper operating cost.
The infrastructure proposed in the project will enable subscribers to enjoy cheaper calls, high speed internet and IP (Internet Protocol) TV. Besides, rural people will have access to broadband Internet through e-Centers.
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