Responding to questions of lawmakers in Public Accounts Committee of parliament on Monday, Chandi Prasad Shrestha, board member of Ncell, said technical jargons like ´limited mobility´ and ´rural telecom service provider´ were affecting the clear framework for revenue. [break]
“When all the operators are providing similar kind of service, why should some operator get privileges in the name of limited mobility and rural telecom operator?” Shrestha questioned.
A sub-committee of PAC that has been formed to look into issues of frequency distribution and royalty has started summoning officials of six telecom operators.
During the meeting on Monday, sub-committee coordinator Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani also sought the officials´ view on having six telecom operators in a small country like Nepal. Ncell officials opined that although having multiple players is good for competition, the number of operators in Nepal is too many already.
They gave the example of developed countries like Finland that has just three operators.
However, chairman of Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) Bhesh Raj Kanel said that they might give license to one more operator.
“Ncell and NT are market leaders in respective sectors. To make the market competitive and to save consumers from their monopoly, we might need one strong player in the market,” he added.
Shrestha also said Ncell was positive about infrastructure sharing. “We are positive about it as infrastructure and power saving will help use cut down our cost,” he added.
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