Kathmandu, May 5 Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has finally authorised private telecom company, Ncell, to launch 4G (fourth generation) telecom service in the country. Despite continuous pressure on the government from lawmakers to restrict Ncell from any service expansion unless the company clears all applicable government taxes, the NTA board meeting held on Wednesday allowed Ncell to launch 4G service in Nepal from June 1 under the technology neutral spectrum. Technology neutrality is a regulatory provision envisioned by the Frequency Policy of 2016 and lets telecom operators to launch/implement any technology (services) in existing frequency bands. It allows the operators to choose the technology they want to introduce or implement in the frequency bands that the government has provided them. Following NTA’s authorisation, Ncell can now launch 4G service in Nepal through the 900MHz and 1800MHz frequency that NTA has provided to the company. NTA officials said that 4G licence has been issued to Ncell as per the direction of Development Committee of the Legislature-Parliament. The Development Committee, chaired by lawmaker Rabindra Adhikari, had decided to recommend the government to grant the 4G licence to Ncell around two weeks ago. However, the NTA’s decision to give 4G licence to Ncell is against the direction of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Legislature-Parliament. The PAC had directed NTA not to grant the 4G licence to Ncell unless the company clears all applicableNepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) involved in the TeliaSonera-Axiata deal. Lawmaker and PAC member Bikash Lamsal said that the decision to allow Ncell to expand new services without making the company first clear all applicable taxes is a violation of PAC’s direction. “The committee will soon seek clarification from NTA for breaching the PAC’s direction by issuing 4G licence to Ncell,” Lamsal said. NTA officials, however, defended their move saying that PAC had only directed the telecom sector regulator not to give additional frequency to Ncell. “We have not given additional frequency to Ncell to operate 4G service. Ncell will have to launch 4G or any other telecommunication services from the limited frequency band that it has been permitted to use at present,” an NTA official said, requesting anonymity. NTA Spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal said that the decision to allow Ncell to introduce new telecom services under technology neutral spectrum is a part of NTA’s broader objective to take the broadband service nationwide by 2020. “Allowing Ncell to launch 4G services will not only increase people’s access to faster internet, it will also generate significant additional revenue for the government from the private telecom firm,” Aryal said. As per NTA, Ncell had paid almost Rs 430 million in frequency fees last year. Allowing Ncell to launch telecommunication services under technology neutral spectrum will increase the frequency fees to almost Rs 780 million in a year, according to Aryal. Seeking permission to introduce 4G service, Ncell had submitted its 4G-rollout plan to NTA in November last year. However, NTA had issued 4G licence only to Nepal Telecom (NT) as Ncell’s CGT debate heated up. NT launched its 4G service in Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara from January 1 and plans to gradually expand the service to other parts of the country in the near future.