Kathmandu, October 23:

Consumers’ Forum general secretary Jyoti Baniya today lashed out at Nepal telecom Authority (NTA) for its inability to make telecom service providers responsible to the consumers.

“NTA — the regulatory authority of the telecom sector — should be more vigilant in protecting consumers’ interests and providing quality service,” he said at an interaction organised here by NTA on ‘Quality of Mobile Telecom Services’.

“Service providers are manipulating consumers,” Baniya alleged adding that the key issues in telecom sector were supply, carpeting, price, regulation and tax.

Nepal Telecom (NT), United Telecom Ltd (UTL) and Spice Nepal Pvt Ltd are the three major mobile telecom providers in Nepal.

NT manager Rabindra Jha blamed the low quality of mobile handsets for poor performance while UTL deputy manager Keshav Raj Gyawali laid the blame at the doorstep of petty issues instead of offering a guarantee of the quality of mobile services.

NTA’s engineering depart assistant director Uday Raj Regmi briefed the media on the findings of the regulator.