Warning Bandwidth Payment is Stopped For 1 Year May Be Canceled And The Internet Shut Down Internet businessmen have warned that the Internet will be shut down in Nepal after the government stopped recommending international currency for payment of bandwidth for about a year.
The umbrella organization of private internet service providers, the Internet Service Providers Association, Nepal (ISPAN) held a press conference on Thursday and warned that the internet service will be disrupted due to a lack of recommendations from the government for bandwidth payment.
Sudhir Parajuli, president of ISPAN, said that if the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology does not recommend an international currency, the contract with the Indian upstream provider will be canceled.
According to the provisions of the bilateral agreement, if payment is not made within a certain period, the agreement will be canceled automatically.
Stating that the Indian upstream provider Bharti Airtel, which receives 70 percent of the bandwidth in Nepal, has sent a letter this week saying that if the bandwidth amount is not paid, the internet service will be interrupted, Chairman Parajuli asked the government to immediately recommend a foreign exchange rate.
According to him, more than three billion rupees have yet to be paid to upstream providers for internet bandwidth.
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has stopped the currency recommendation for 10 months due to non-payment of outstanding dues under the maintenance title. But internet businessmen have been paying royalties and RTDF (Rural Telecommunications Development Fund) dues from the income other than the fees taken from the maintenance, taking a stand that maintenance does not come under telecommunication services.
Spain thinks that the government should change the Telecommunication Act itself to apply royalties and rural telecommunication development funds to maintenance fees. He argued that by amending Section 2 (d) of the Telecommunication Act 2053 and Schedule 6 (a) of the Telecommunication Regulation 2054, including the maintenance and repair services, the maintenance fee can be levied as royalty and Rural Telecommunication Development Fund.
Even though there is a clear explanation in the law, ISPAN has raised a question about the role of the state in the Digital Nepal campaign, saying that the state does not understand the sensitivity of the much-needed internet service by doing things like stopping the recommendation of foreign currency, not renewing the license, and not facilitating the service providers.
Spain is accused of adopting a discriminatory policy on the contrary that the state should attract the private sector to the telecommunication sector and telecommunication services.
It is necessary to obtain the approval of the foreign currency exchange from the National Bank,” the statement of ISPAN said, “but there is a provision that the government telecommunication service provider can directly go to the bank and do the foreign currency exchange. The private sector is not facilitated due to alleged arrears. But it seems that they have ignored the dues of government service providers.
In the context of the approaching investment conference, ISPAN has mentioned that serious question marks have been raised about the discriminatory policies of the state, the treatment of the private sector, etc.