Optical fibre in Mid-Hill Highway from RTDF Money

The government has initiated process to utilize the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF)’s money to lay optical fibre cable (OFC) along the Mid-Hill Highway.

Minster for Information and Communication Sherdhan Rai while speaking at the Legislature-Parliament’s Development Committee meeting Tuesday, informed that the government was planning to develop the Mid-Hill Highway as an optical highway.

An OFC is a flexible, transparent fibre made by drawing glass or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than human hair which is capable of transmitting data over longer distances at higher bandwidths than wire cables.

“Mid-Hill Highway is strategically important to link the headquarters of the remote hill and mountain districts. We need to expand internet services to every corner of the country in order to develop e-Governance, smart cities and e-Education and e-Health,” he said.

The 1,776 kilometre long Mid-Hill Highway, also named as Pushpalal Highway, links Chiyobhanjyang at Nepal-India border in Panchthar to Jhulaghat at Mahakali River in

Baitadi.

Minister Rai said that a study would be commenced soon to find out the practicality and feasibility of blending the infrastructure and technology used by Magsaysay Award winner Mahabir Pun in Myagdi district.

The government is planning to develop Myagdi as a free wi-fi district.

According to the Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) it would be a pilot project which would be extended to other districts in the near future.

The government had been long facing criticism for being unable to utilize the RTDF which has approximately Rs. 12 billion.

Every telecommunication companies operating in Nepal should deposit 2 per cent of their annual income to the Fund.

The fund was to be used for the development, extension and operation of the Telecommunication service in the rural areas.

It was established to expand basic telephone services to 1,200 VDCs that were out of the telecommunication network.

“The target was met by 2011. Then the RTDF policy was changed in 2013 which allowed to use the resource in the Fund to be invested in infrastructure projects,” said Purushottam Khanal, director of NTA.

NTA chairman Digambar Jha said that the Authority was planning to bring 60 per cent population of the country and all district headquarters into the OFC network by 208.

“By 2020, the country would be in the OFC network. 14 districts severely-hit by the April 25 earthquake are in the priority and internet will reach there by the end of this year.”

In 2014, the government had decided to initiate projects like ‘connect a school, connect a community’, district optical fibre project, ICT friendly VDC by utilizing the RTDF money.

A committee was formed with a mandate to mobilize the resource of the RTDF in the same year.

NTA has called for international consultant to recommend the geo-friendly telecom technology for the hill and mountain region in Nepal.

“We are on the final stage of selecting the consultant. The consultant will recommend appropriate technology for Nepal and also study the feasibility of OFC expansion to the district headquarters,” said Jha.

Meanwhile, Buddhi Acharya, managing director of Nepal Telecom, said that the process to connect southern and northern border with internet bandwidth was on the final stage.

Erim Taylanlar, chief executive officer of Ncell, informed that Ncell was collaborating with Telecom in the project.

'Use RTDF to expand internet to schools'

The Legislature-Parliament’s Development Committee Tuesday directed the Ministry of Information and Communications, Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) and telecom service provider companies to expedite the work to bring every Village Development Committee, school and hospital into the reach of internet within a year.

Committee Chairman Rabindra Adhikari directed the government to utilize the resources of the Rural Telecommunication Fund, if required.

He specially directed the Minister for Information and Communications Sherdhan Rai to make necessary arrangements to supply energy or fuel to Ncell at the earliest after the telecom service provider complained that it would be forced to shut down its services if it didn’t get diesel by Friday evening.

Saying that the quality service is consumer’s right, the committee directed the telecom service provider companies to maintain transparency in service charge, provide quality service, remove all invisible charges and asked the regulator, NTA, for effective monitoring in this regard.

The committee directed the Nepal Telecom to find the solution of problems that customers were facing while recharging their pre-paid phone.