Both companies owe Rs 5 billion in dues
KATHMANDU, May 15: The Office of the Auditor General has recommended that the government impose a 15 per cent penalty on Nepal Telecom and Ncell for failing to pay their license renewal fees on time.
The report urges the government to recover Rs 5 billion—Rs 2.97165 billion from both companies for delayed payments and an additional Rs 2.04 billion from Ncell.
Clause 12 of the Telecommunications Regulation, 2054 BS (1997), requires the applicant to submit the agreed renewal fee and an application to the Telecommunications Authority when renewing a license. If the applicant fails to renew the license within the specified time, the Telecommunications Authority may collect an additional fee to process the renewal.
NTA instructs Ncell to pay Rs 19 billion, warns of revoking lic...
As per the provision, Nepal Telecom had to pay the renewal fee of Rs 20 billion and submit an application for license renewal by February 8, 2019, three months before the second renewal period expired on May 8, 2019.
The company was required to pay the full renewal fee of Rs 20 billion in advance in a single instalment. However, it deposited only Rs 189 million on time and paid the remaining Rs 19.81 billion only on May 7, 2024. Since it failed to deposit the entire Rs 20 billion on time, the Office of the Auditor General has instructed Nepal Telecom to pay an additional 15 per cent fee, totalling Rs 2.97 billion.
Ncell, the private sector telecom company, received its license on September 1, 2004, for 10 years. For its third renewal, Ncell needed to pay Rs 20 billion by May 28, 2024, for a 5-year extension, but it deposited only Rs 6.4 billion.
The Office of the Auditor General's report states that Ncell must pay an additional 15 percent fee on the remaining Rs 13.6 billion, amounting to Rs 2.04 billion. The report also indicates that both Nepal Telecom and Ncell must pay an additional Rs 5.01 billion as outstanding amounts for their license renewals.
The report from the Office of the Auditor General highlights that Clause 11 of the Radio Frequency (Allocation and Pricing) Policy, 2073 BS (2016), outlines the renewal fee structure for basic telephone services in the telecommunications sector.
The policy requires service providers to pay the specified amount starting from the year they receive their license from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority for 10 years. Service providers who obtained licenses were supposed to make payments by the fiscal year 2023/24. However, since they failed to do so, the outstanding amount of Rs 3.4 billion must now be recovered.
