Speaking at an interaction organized to mark 15th Anniversary of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) here on Sunday, they said the new spectrum policy does not provide level playing field for the operators.[break]
S P Pachauri, CEO of UTL, said minimum and maximum spectrum assignment was not in the favor of small operators. “Government should revisit the policy to create level playing field,” he said. “Instead of auction, which has already failed in many countries, the government should look for other alternatives to fix license and renewal fee of 3G frequency.”
Former Chairman of NTA, Suresh Pudasaini, said the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) was playing the role of Ministry of Finance instead of safeguarding the interest of the operators and their huge investment. “The focus of MoIC should be on expanding services in rural sector and making the service more affordable rather than acting like tax department,” he said.
The newly drafted spectrum policy has fixed 0.4 percent of the annual gross revenue of operators as minimum spectrum fee for 2G. Similarly, they need to pay additional fee of Rs 6 million per MHz for additional frequency of 800/900 Mhz and Rs 4 million per MHz for 1800 MHz. The amount goes up to Rs 12 million per MHz for the use of maximum spectrum.
Binay Bohra, president of Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAN), said plans to expand data service was not moving ahead as NTA´s focus has been on voice and other issues of the past. “The penetration of broadband users is only 3 percent at present. The government should review the policy in such a way that the penetration increases further,” said Bohra.
Minister for Information and Communications Raj Kishore Yadav, who also heads Radio Frequency Determination Committee, said although the ministry was aware of its responsibility of making the service affordable it does not mean that it would overlook royalty issues. “Telecommunications sector is one of the key sectors of the government in terms of revenue mobilization. We can overlook financial liabilities of the operators to the government in the name of providing service,” Yadav said.
He, however, added that the government was positive about expanding the service and reviewing the policy considering the welfare of the operators. Yadav further asked state-owned Nepal Telecom to be more competitive and give up the mentality that the state should protect it.
Related story
The CIAA has failed us
