Kathmandu, December 26

A writ has been filed at the Supreme Court against the licensing process that the country’s telecom sector regulator — Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) — initiated recently.

Citing that NTA has intentionally disallowed Nepali firms to participate in the telecom infrastructure licensing process, Nisesh Mishra filed a writ petition against NTA recently.

Publishing a notice on November 4, NTA had sought request for proposal (RfP) from interested and eligible firms — both domestic and foreign — to provide telecommunications infrastructure service and promote sharing of telecom infrastructure.

However, NTA has set a clause that any applicant who directly or indirectly holds one per cent or more stake in any existing telecommunication service provider shall not be eligible to apply for the concerned licence.

As per the registered writ at the court, this particular clause has prohibited domestic firms to participate in the licensing process of telecom infrastructure service in Nepal.

However, NTA officials have said that the RfP had been published on the basis of existing NTA laws and guidelines and there is nothing wrong with the provisions in the RfP.

“Licensing process for telecom infrastructure service is as per legal standards. The Supreme Court has called us for clarification and we shall clarify to the court soon,” said an official of NTA, seeking anonymity.

Meanwhile, NTA Spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal said five foreign firms have submitted their applications to provide telecom infrastructure service in Nepal. These five firms include Ieng Group (Lebanon), APC Asia Pacific (USA), Blue Ocean Network (Malaysia) and one telecom firm each from the United States and Africa.

As per schedule, NTA will award the telecom infrastructure service provider’s licence to two eligible firms on January 17 next year.

Earlier, NTA had started the process to issue such licence to promote telecommunications infrastructure-sharing in the country and reduce the cost of telecommunications services.