 |
Kathmandu Thursday December 20, 2001 Paush 05, 2058.
|
Frequency row
Abitter row between the Ministry of
Information and Communications (MIC) and Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) over
frequency allocation for a cellular mobile phone company has become a matter of serious
concern. The row has not only delayed distribution of cellular phones to consumers but
also discouraged "price competition" and foreign investment in this sector. Had
the MIC settled the row on who should control the frequency band, the distribution of cell
phones at competitive prices would not have taken so long. Unfortunately, the fight has
virtually stopped in its tracks a private company that had applied for a license for
operating cellular mobile phones throughout the country. This is something that the
government cannot take lightly, let alone ignore given the way the bureaucracy functions
in this country. The bureaucratic system has no doubt turned many state-run corporations
from bad to worse thanks to poor and ineffective laws. The practice of corruption has
increased as a result of poor laws and also nepotism, favouritism and cronyism.
Last December, Spice Cell Nepal (SCN), a
joint venture between Spice Cell India and the Khetan Group, had applied for license to
operate cellular phones throughout Nepal. However, the Telecommunications Employees
Association of Nepal (TEAN) filed suit at the Supreme Court against the move citing the
Telecommunications Act 1997. The court ruled in favour of SCN, ending the monopoly
of the Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) in the telecommunications sector.
Competition between NTC and SCN would bring efficient services and help lower costs, so
that mobile phone will come within the reach of a greater chunk of the populace, had the
government issued license to SCN. SCN which was selected through a competitive bid had
plans to distribute 100 thousand cellular phones within five years. But the row between
MIC and the NTA has thwarted all this.
The Telecommunications Act clearly provides for
a Radio Frequency Policy Determination Committee whose purpose is to "determine the
policy related to radio frequencies and their allocation". This committee falls
directly under MIC rather than NTA. The task of the NTA is to request the Ministry for a
specific frequency and subsequently award license for the frequency to a private company,
but not to control the frequency band. There is no confusion over this and the government
should not be letting MIC and NTA squabble over control of frequency bands when the Act
clearly explains the band allocation. Incidentally, the row reminds one that in many
countries telecommunications and postal services are handled by a ministry of posts and
telecommunications or something along those lines, which has little to do with information
and communications. The existence of a ministry that handles the gamut from information
and communications to telecommunications to postal services alongside a telecommunications
authority seems to be a duplication of bureaucracy. |
