Nepal Telecom Got A New Mobile Service License Nepal Telecom, a government-owned telecommunication company, has received a new license for mobile services. The board meeting of the regulator Nepal Telecommunication Authority held on Friday has decided to grant a mobile service license to Telecom for five years.
It is said that a fee of Rs 21 crore will have to be paid for this. Santosh Paudel, spokesperson of the Authority, informed that the license has been re-issued in the name of the company, which has to be renewed every five years.
If the existing law is implemented, the company will have to pay a fee of 20 billion rupees for renewal every five years. However, spokesperson Paudal said that the authority has not decided whether to maintain the fee of 20 billion for the future renewal or to implement other arrangements.
“To regularize the telecommunication services, use the authority of section 20 of the Telecommunications Act, 2053, instruct the Nepal Telecommunication Authority to re-issue the license to Nepal Telecommunication Company Limited by subsection 4 of section 33 of the same Act,” the decision of the Cabinet said. In the said section of the Act, there is a provision that the person who received the previous license can operate the telecommunication service with up to 50 percent of the total capital investment by foreign individuals or organized organizations after the expiry of the operating license.
Telecom had deposited 19 billion 811 million rupees remaining for the third renewal in 2076 in the account of the regulator Nepal Telecommunication Authority only last Tuesday. According to the authority, 189 million rupees out of 20 billion was paid during the third renewal at that time.