KATHMANDU, AUGUST 5

The country’s largest private telecom company Ncell has been transformed into a public company.

Publishing a notice today, Ncell informed its transformation to a public company.

With this transformation, Ncell will now be recognised as Ncell Axiata Ltd and all its operations will be carried under the same name.

As per the company, the transformation has been made in line with a provision in the Article 13 (1) of the Company Act, 2006 which requires telecom firms with paid-up capital above Rs 50 million to transform into a public company. Ncell today has a paid-up capital of Rs 100 million.

With the transformation into a public company, Ncell is required to issue shares to the public. As per existing laws, Ncell can sell up to 20 per cent of its share to the public.

However, Ncell has not disclosed when and how it will issue shares to the public.

Axiata, Ncell’s parent company, owns 80 per cent stake in Ncell while local investor Bhawana Singh Shrestha owns remaining 20 per cent stake.

Ncell is not only one of the highest profit-making company in Nepal but also one of the largest taxpayers to the government.

In the last fiscal year, Ncell had paid almost Rs 34 billion in income tax.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 6, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.