Telecom servies to be expanded to all local levels before federal elections

Kathmandu, Sept. 25: The government is expanding the telecommunication services to all local levels and crucial government agencies across the country before the upcoming federal elections.

Minister for Information and Communications Mohan Bahadur Basnet Monday updated the lawmakers at the Legislature-Parliament’s Development Committee that the telephone services would reach every corner of the country by November 1 this year so as to facilitate the government during the upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections and the newly elected local bodies.

The election to the House of Representatives, the lower house of the bicameral Federal Parliament, will be held on two phases – November 26 and December 7.

“Update the existing equipment and buy new one if you haven’t it. Every local body should have the telephone services within five weeks,” Minister Basnet directed the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) and Nepal Telecommunication Company (NTC).

The Development Committee directed the government to develop information technology infrastructure at the tourist centres such as Rara, Annapurna Base Camp, Everest Base Camp, Lukla, Janakpur and Lumbini as well as other important trekking routes.

“Especially the mountainous and hilly regions have poor access to telephone and internet services. Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC), NTA and telecommunication service providers must expedite works to expand quality services to those areas,” said committee chairman Rabindra Adhikari.

He directed them to expand quality telecommunication services to all schools, health posts, post offices, hospitals and other public offices by November 1. He also asked to provide quality internet services to those institutions within a year.

The house panel has expressed serious concerns about the declining international traffic income of the NTC.

The state-owned telecommunication service provider’s international traffic revenue dropped by Rs. 4.5 billion last year.

It had earned Rs. 11.5 billion revenue from international traffic in 2015 which dropped to Rs. 9 billion in 2016 although the company had estimated to earn Rs. 13.5 billion last year.

“The statistics demand serious concerns of the government and the company. So, this committee directs the government, MoIC and NTC to conduct international call monitoring and report the reasons behind the decreasing revenue to the committee within a week,” read the decision of the committee.

The committee also criticised the government, ministry and the service provider companies for the poor quality of telephone and data services and asked them to enhance the quality, maintain transparency in charges and apply modern technology within a month.

NTA chairman Digambar Jha said that the telecom sector regulator was implementing various plans related to laying fibre optics cable, upgrading technology and infrastructure sharing among the service providers.

He suggested the government announce grant for the telecom companies that go to remote areas in order to motivate the private companies to go there.