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Kathmandu Tuesday February 26, 2002 Falgun 14, 2058.
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Sorry for inconvenience
Niranjan Malakar’s letter entitled
"About telecommunications..." published in The Kathmandu Post, dated Feb 8, 2002
regarding the difficulties to call his family in Kirtipur from Sweden has drawn our
attention. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to Malakar due to the problem in
contacting his family by telephone.
Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) being
the only authorised telephone operator licensed to operate International Voice
Communication Services in the kingdom is deeply hurt to read Malakar’s letter and
therefore, would like to explain the reason.
Article 5 Clause 21 of Telecommunications
Act-2053 states that after the commencement of this
Act no one may operate the Telecommunication Service without obtaining a license. So far
NTC is the only licensed operator authorised to operate International Voice Communication
Services in the
kingdom. It will be worthwhile to remind all concerned that Nepal Telecommunications
Authority (NTA), from time to time, has voiced suspicion about possible operation of
international voice service with the publication of general notice which clearly warns all
possible unauthorised operators not to operate illegal international voice communication
in Nepal.
The illegal operation of international telephone
services by some people through cheap equipment, limited circuits and cheap tariff rates
has been providing poor quality telephone services bypassing NTC’s international
circuit. These illegal operators are carrying traffic using Internet Protocol (IP) via
VAST (Very Small Terminal Aperture) bypassing NTC’s usual international circuits. The
calls made by using IP technology are of very poor quality and on top of that the illegal
operators have limited circuits. This is the reason why the calls (from foreign countries)
coming through these illegal routes face the difficulty in getting through.
All calls, both incoming and outgoing, through
NTC is of excellent quality and are easy to get through. NTC has direct link with 19
countries and through these countries one can dial directly to 131 countries. One may
confirm the service quality of NTC’s international telephone service by dialling
International Access Code 00 followed by the respective Country Code, Area Code and then
the telephone number of their family/friends in the overseas country.
Malakar’s allegation that it has been
difficult to call Nepal after the declaration of emergency does not carry the real truth.
Total incoming traffic (in minutes) through NTC in the month of January reached nearly
three times than the months before the emergency. Had the telecommunications been censored
or controlled (as mentioned by Malakar in his letter), the traffic would not have
increased threefold. Therefore, I would like to tell Malakar that there is nothing wrong
with telecommunication services in Nepal. The problem lies with the telecommunication
operators in the respective countries, who send traffic via Least Cost Route without
considering the quality of their service. So far NTC is proud to provide Excellent Service
- never compromising the quality.
Ratna Kaji Tuladhar
Deputy General Manager (Business)
Nepal Telecommunications Corporation |
