NEA-ISPs row culminates in former cutting internet cables

Kathmandu, Oct. 2

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has started to cut and remove the internet cables from its poles across the country.

The months-long row between the state-owned energy authority and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) has finally culminated in the wire removal against the expectations of the private sector businesses.

Through a new regulation, NEA had proposed to double the charges on fibre cables stretched along the 66kv transmission lines, making it Rs. 32,000 a year without taxes. For fibre optics on 33kv transmission lines, charges will reach Rs. 30,000.

Likewise, increment in the rental charge for the utility poles to Rs. 200 per annum from Rs. 50 in the rural areas and Rs. 300 from Rs. 200 in city areas was proposed in the regulation.

By the end of the last fiscal year 2020/21, forty-four ISPs were in operation and the number of their customers reached 1.63 million, including the subscribers of wireless, cable and fibre internet users.

Among them, Worldlink Communication, Nepal Doorsanchar Company, Subisu Cablenet, Classic Tech and Vianet Communication are the major ones with more than 100,000 customers. As per the report of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority, Worldlink had 485,139 customers as of mid-July, Nepal Doorsanchar 290,023, Subisu 210,513, Classic Tech 157,885, and Vianet 152,131.

NEA said that it wanted the ISPs to share the infrastructure so that customers would benefit from the reduced cost. ISPs, however, have been complaining that the internet cost would go up if the increased rental charges were applied.

Internet Service Provider Associations of Nepal (ISPAN) and CAN Federation had submitted recommendations to the government urging the latter to help the private sector to keep the internet cost at the lowest possible.

NEA had published a notice demanding the private sector to pay the rental charges of the utility poles by October 1, Friday, and warned that should the companies fail to comply, the wires would be dismantled from the poles.

NEA said that it wanted to make the city clean by removing the wires, 95 per cent of which are damaged and so useless, but the ISPs don’t bring them down. 

The power utility company raises Rs. 250 million to Rs. 300 million a year from the charges of utility poles and OPGW cables.

Meanwhile, our Chitwan correspondent reported that the NEA Bharatpur Distribution Centre had begun to cut down the internet cables there.

According to Rajendra Poudel, an engineer at the centre, ISPs in Chitwan owe more than Rs. 20 million in rental charge to the NEA. However, he maintained that the cables were cut in a symbolic way to force the businesses to pay the rent of the utility poles.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 3 October 2021.