Concerned officials of Nepal Telecom (NT), Spice Nepal and United Telecom Limited (UTL) told myrepublica.com that they had seen a significant rise in the incoming numbers of international calls through their channel in January. [break]
Surendra Thike, spokesperson of NT, the largest telecom operator of the country, informed myrepublica.com that the overall revenue of the company has increased by around 20 percent compared to the revenue it recorded during same period last year.
Concerned operators estimate that the total industry lost 1.5 million calls worth about Rs 1.5 billion last year due to the illegal diversions of incoming calls, particularly coming from overseas. NT which has a market share of 55 percent of the domestic market has alone been losing over Rs 50 million in a month.
Nepal Police in cooperation with the telecom operators had busted three major illegal rackets of VOIP a month back. According to police investigation, those arrested were operating their illegal activities from 20 points within the Valley. Using sophisticated equipment, they had been blocking the gateways of service providers and diverting international calls toward their own channels.
Following the crackdown, mobile service providers Spice Nepal also regained their lost revenues. Though officials of Spice Nepal said they have yet to calculate the actual percentage of revenue growth, they say they have seen impressive rise in revenue. “Though we have yet to calculate actual growth in revenue, we have witnessed some growth,” said Sanju Koirala, spokesperson of Spice Nepal.
Officials of UTL too said that they have also witnessed notable increment of around 10 percent in its revenue coming from international call traffic. The actual increment might be higher when we do the calculations in detail, said the officials.
VOIP racketeers were found diverting incoming international calls into their illegally operated networks, making them look like locally originating calls through the use of Nepal Telecom, Mero Mobile and, UTL SIM cards. In this process, racketeers were enjoying shared income offered by the foreign based operators that originate international calls.
According to the Telecom Act 2053, misusing or doing anything harmful to the telecom system, to its structures, or to its equipment with malicious intent is a crime punishable with a fine equal to the amount claimed for harm caused or five years in jail or both.
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