NTA chairperson to be appointed through open competition

Kathmandu, August 19

The government has decided to fill the vacant leadership post at Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) through open competition.

The post of the chairperson at the country’s telecommunications regulatory body has been vacant since July 4 after the government decided to rescind all political appointments made by the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government, including Digambar Jha who was the chairman of NTA then.

Publishing a notice on Saturday, Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has sought applications from interested and eligible candidates for the post. As per notice, applicants should be between the age of 30 and 65 years and also have 10 years of experience in telecommunications sector.

Prior to this, the executive post at NTA was being filled through political appointments.

Following the decision of the government to sack Jha on July 4, the government had formed a committee under the coordination of Secretary at MoIC Mahendra Man Gurung to recommend eligible candidates for NTA’s vacant leadership post. However, the committee once again came up with the decision to reappoint Jha under political influence.

Meanwhile, the government’s plan to reappoint Jha as NTA’s chairperson drew criticism from several quarters, thereby compelling the government to appoint the chairperson at NTA through open competition.

Along with the formation of the new government and the changing priorities of the government, NTA has not been able to execute a number of planned projects. One such plan includes issuing telecom infrastructure service licence. Though it has been almost one year that NTA sought request for proposals (RfPs) for the telecom infrastructure licence and collected applications from five foreign telecom firms, NTA has not been able to issue the concerned licence.

Along with NTA, leadership post at Nepal Telecom is also vacant since the past few days after the government sacked its managing director Kamini Rajbhandari.