Frequency renewal charge to be revised

The Nepal Telecommunic-ations Authority (NTA) is reviewing the frequency renewal charge after which telecom operators holding more frequencies than assigned will be charged five times the normal rate. The national telecom regulator said that it had recommended to the Ministry of Information and Communication that the price of frequencies be increased with the view of stopping telecom operators from keeping frequencies provided for temporary use.

The NTA charges telecom operators Rs. 14 million per MHz of bandwidth. The operators, namely Nepal Telecom, Spice Nepal, UTL and Nepal Satellite have been holding more frequencies than they need, said a source at the authority.

Once the ministry approves the proposal, telecom operators who have been delaying returning temporary frequencies citing reasons of expansion and upgrading will be charged five times the usual rate. "A committee under the leadership of the information and communication minister is studying our suggestion," said NTA president Bhesh Raj Kanel. "We will implement the provision as soon as the ministry approves it."

According to an NTA source, Nepal Telecom is using only 25-30 percent of the frequencies of the total 33 MHz it holds, and Spice Nepal is using 30-35 percent of 19 MHz. UTL, which had asked for additional frequencies a few months ago, has been using less than 10 percent of the 18.4 MHz it is occupying. The source said that the new provision would help the authority to manage frequencies in a planned manner, increase revenue for the government and open the door to new operators.

"We have provided additional frequencies for only six months, but telecom operators have been holding them without using them," said Kanel. "We will assign 2.4 MHz to Smart Telecom within one and a half months after getting it back from other telecom operators." According to Kanel, the frequency assigned permanently to Nepal Telecom allows it to expand its customer base to 10 million, and Spice Nepal can use its frequency to increase the number of its customers to 4 to 4.5 million. As of Oct. 15, 2009, Nepal Telecom had 4.7 million subscribers and Spice Nepal 2 million.
Source:eKantipur