Kathmandu, September 22

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has issued internet service provider (ISP) licences to five new companies.

A recent NTA board meeting has awarded the ISP licences to Himalayan Gorkha Net, City Net, KCN Net, Pathivara Network and Prime Net allowing them to commence internet services in the country.

NTA Spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal said that the decision to issue new ISP licences intends to expand internet services across the country.

By issuing ISP licences to new companies, NTA not only aims to increase people’s access to internet services but also targets to add revenue in its coffer, which the authority believes will make it easy for NTA to run different internet projects across the country.

“More number of ISPs in the country ensures internet services to more people. It also helps to promote competition among ISPs, which will ultimately benefit consumers,” said Aryal.

As per NTA, almost 110 domestic companies have taken ISP licences so far, while only 72 ISPs are in operation currently. The remaining companies have either not renewed their ISP licences or are inoperable as they have not paid dues to the government, as per NTA.

Of the ISPs that are in operation, Subisu, WorldLink, ClassicTech and Vianet have majority stake in the domestic internet market.

However, NTA has said that domestic internet users prefer internet service of different telecom companies over domestic ISPs. As per NTA’s estimation, there are almost 16 million active internet users in the country, of whom only 248,000 users are using internet services of ISPs.

Similarly, NTA data also show that more users prefer mobile internet service of Nepal Telecom (NT) compared to other telecom firms. Of the total number of internet users in the country, almost eight million users have been using internet of NT, as per NTA.