KATHMANDU, Sept 26: The parliament’s Development Committee has instructed the government to take telecommunication/telephone services to school, health post, post office, hospital and other public service providers in all local units by the end of October. 

The meeting directed the government to do the needful for taking telecommunication/telephone services to all 753 local units by November 1 and to connect Internet service to all local units within a year.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Information and Communications Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Secretary Mahendra Man Gurung, Chairperson of Nepal Telecommunications Authority Digambar Jha, and Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Kamini Rajbhandari, among other officials.

The meeting also drew the attention of the ministry, NTA and service providers for early expansion of telecommunications services to popular tourist destinations like Rara Lake, Annupurna Base Camp, Everest Base Camp, Lukla, Janakpur, Lumbini and other popular trekking routes across the country. 

The committee also directed the Nepal Telecom (NT) to find out reasons behind fall in revenue from international traffic income in the last fiscal year. NT earned only Rs 9 billion in the last fiscal year from international traffic income, compared to Rs 11.5 billion in the previous fiscal year. 

Similarly, the committee also directed the ministry and the NTA to sort out problems in infrastructure sharing, interconnectivity and number portability among telecom operators within three months.

The house panel also directed the authorities concerned to improve the quality of 4G service and take needful initiative for using satellite space provided by the International Tele Communication Union by preparing a proper work schedule within three months. 

Stating that the Telecommunication Act 2053 (1996) cannot address new technological advancements, the committee directed the government to draft a new Act.

The committee also directed the authorities concerned to complete work of laying down optical fiber network along the Mid-Hills Highway, Postal Highway, North-South corridors and other internal road connections on a war footing. The committee also directed the government to finalize ownership of optical fiber and submit report within 10 days to the committee. 

Similarly, it directed telecom operators to work in coordination with local units while building infrastructure to expand their capacity.

Meanwhile, the committee also passed its annual report for the Fiscal Year 2016/17.

 
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