Authority Serving The Interests Of UTL By Pushing Ncell Into Crisis The regulator Nepal Telecommunication Authority has become uncooperative in renewing the license of Ncell, the only private telecom company in the country. Another telecom company United Telecom Limited (UTL) has its interest in this strategy of the authority. It has been over a decade since UTL went bankrupt and ceased service. Various sources claim that this company was contacted by Tekpana, which has become uncooperative in renewing the license of Viewtown Authority Ncell.
The Authority issued a public notice in the name of UTL on 25th January 2081 saying that the license will be revoked if the outstanding amount is not deposited within 15 days. However, the company could not pay the scheduled arrears of around seven and a half billion rupees.
Spokesperson Santosh Paudel informed that only one application was received from UTL instead of arrears to the authority within the deadline given to pay the arrears. “UTL informed us that it could not raise investment due to the lack of capital growth and that it could not pay the dues due to the lack of money,” said spokesperson Paudel. He has requested through a letter that he is ready to pay 20 crores. It has also demanded an installment facility for the remaining amount. We are clear that those demands cannot be legally met.”
According to the notification of the authority, naturally, the license cancellation process of UTL should have proceeded on the 16th day. 57 days have passed since the expiry of the 15-day notice, but the license revocation process announced by the regulator itself has not been carried forward yet.
Authority sources say that the process of canceling the license of UTL has been planned by Chairman Bhandari.
On the other hand, Ncell’s license, which has reached 20 years, is expiring on this 15th of August. As it is a public holiday on that day, the company will have an extra day for license renewal.
In UTL, 26.68 percent of Indian company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, 26.66 percent of Telecommunication Consultants India Limited, 26.66 percent of Tata Communications Limited are owned by foreigners, and 20 percent by Nepal Ventures Pvt. It is said that Raj Bahadur Singh currently owns 20 percent of UTL shares in the name of Nepal Ventures. He is also the son-in-law of former king Gyanendra Shah.
After the arrival of Bhupendra Bhandari as the new chairman of the authority, Singh is in a rush to revive UTL. Bhandari is close to businessman Upendra Mahato, who is considered a middleman in Nepal’s telecommunication sector. In this process, information has been received that Singh is meeting various vendors and investors saying that he will wake up UTL.
On June 14, 2081, Ncell submitted an application to the authority for the renewal of its mobile license by paying four billion rupees. However, the regulator did not agree to renew the company’s license citing the insufficient amount of 16 billion.
On the other hand, Ncell has been demanding that Nepal Telecom be provided with the facility of payment of renewal fees after five years without interest, even if it is provided in installments.
In the case of Telecom, which had reached 20 years in 2076, the government at that time took 189 million rupees and renewed the license. Accordingly, after five years, i.e. on 25 Baisakh, Telecom paid the remaining 19 billion 81 million 10 million rupees. In which five years interest is also discounted.
Section 25 of the Telecommunications Act 2053 and Rule 12 of the Telecommunications Regulations 2054 state that three months before the expiry of the license period, the renewal fee must be submitted and an application must be made to the authority. For Ncell, which failed to renew three months earlier, according to sub-rule 3 of the same rule, there is an option to renew the license within the period (16 August 2081) by charging an additional fee of 15 percent of the renewal fee. This means that Ansal will have to pay Rs 3 billion (15 percent of the renewal fee) and the rest of the renewal fee (16 billion in addition to the previously paid Rs 16 billion) as a fine within the next 10 days to save its license.
Malaysian investment company Aziata Group Berhad has sold Renault Holding, which owns 80 percent of shares in Ncell, to British company Spectralite UK. The owner of which is Satish Lal Acharya, the husband of Bhavna Singh Shrestha, who owns 20 percent shares in Ncell through Sunivera Venture Capital.
The Authority has already decided not to recognize the share purchase and sale agreement between Aziata and Spectralite UK on the instructions of the Government of Nepal. But when Aziata has already left, the authority has not been able to give any option on what to do next.
Based on local laws, 80 percent of Ncell’s shares are still owned by Aziata. But he has already announced that he has ‘ceased’ his operations from Nepal in December 2023. As a result, the law of Nepal does not consider Satish Lal Acharya as the owner of 80 percent of Ncell shares, nor is the regulator and the government of Nepal taking any initiative to return Aziata.
