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Kathmandu Friday February 22, 2002 Falgun 10, 2058.
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VOIP triggers traffic
congestion
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 21: Increasing number of callers
are facing difficulties in making long distance telephone calls to Nepal from abroad for
quite some time, thanks to the illegal operation of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)
both at home and abroad.
The unauthorized transmission of voice through
Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) has not only made it difficult to make long distance
calls to Nepal, but also caused a loss to the government revenue.
Till date, Nepal Telecommunications Corporation
(NTC) is the sole authorized operator for voice communication, but some VSAT operators
both here and abroad have been routing such calls to Nepal bypassing the NTC’s
international circuits.
Since it is expensive to make long distance
calls abroad, through the NTC international circuit, the illegal operators allure the
callers offering them cheaper rates and they route such calls to the similar unauthorized
operators in Nepal. Due mainly to poor equipment and limited circuits such calls cannot be
transmitted well which results in traffic congestion.
Most of the callers are not aware of it. They
think that it is the NTC through which all international calls are passed and they blame
the state-run corporation for the problem.
Raghubar Lal Shrestha, General Manager at the
NTC says, "The illegal operation of voice communication has not only caused a revenue
loss both to the NTC and the government, but also spoilt the reputation of NTC".
Immediate action should be taken against such
illegal operators and the NTC should rebalance its tariffs, especially international call
tariffs for which concerned authority should decide in time, he said.
Mostly calls from those countries where a large
number of Nepalis reside are congested, as Nepalis tend to make calls at cheaper rates,
which VSAT operators offer. National operators in foreign countries charge far higher
prices than those VSAT operators, Shrestha added.
It costs 35 cents per minute to make a local
call in the US while one can call Nepal at 20 cents per minute.
Following the liberalization of telecom services
especially opening VSAT to the private sector, the complaints of incoming traffic
congestion has risen, he said attributing the cause to the unauthorized transmission of
VOIP.
"Our international circuits are functioning
very well. There is no problem with both incoming and outgoing calls as we use the same
circuit calls. Therefore, it is clear that foreign operators route incoming calls
bypassing our circuit to illegal operators here. As such illegal operators are not well
equipped, it creates traffic congestion", he explains.
Ratna Kaji Tuladhar, Deputy General Manager NTC,
says NTC’s circuits are of excellent quality. It has direct link with 19 countries
and through these countries one can dial directly to 131 countries.
After other countries opened VOIP, callers went
for cheaper services and VSAT operators emerged there and they need similar partners to
operate business in Nepal.
India is going to open it from coming April and
another close neighbour China has long ago opened VOIP.
Experts say that the government needs to open
VOIP in order to solve the problem and to provide cheaper services for the majority of
low-income people.
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