Govt slashes frequency, renewal fees
Pvt sector welcomes the move

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KATHMANDU, Jan 13 : The government has fixed and reduced the licence and renewal fees for frequency bandwidth, ending the confusion and controversy that shrouded the Ministry of Information and Communications. And the private sector has welcomed the move.

The government making amendments to the Radio Communications Act 2049, has fixed the licence fee for frequency with a bandwidth of 64 kilobytes per second (KBPS) at Rs 15,000 and a renewal fee of Rs 1,000 annually.

According to the new provision, every additional 64 KBPS of bandwidth would be charged additional Rs 1,000 now onwards. The changes in the existing law were made after publishing a notice on the gazette on December 24, 2001.

Prabhakar Adhikari, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications said that the new provision would facilitate the frequency bandwidth users as it has scaled down the licence and renewal fees and made the structure very clear.

"The ministry has reduced the licence and renewal fees for frequency users, which will greatly facilitate the users. Furthermore, it has also made the provision clear," said Adhikari.

However, the provision will be applicable to those operators, which have acquired such licence from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), subjected to approval by the High Level Radio Frequency Policy Determination Committee, chaired by the Minister for Information and Communic-ations, he added.

Some internet service providers (ISPs) and very small aperture terminal (VSAT) users have been using various frequency bandwidth for the past four or five years and have been paying the licence and annual charges on an ad hoc basis.

Prior to this, the Act had a provision of charging frequency licence and renewal fees for voice communication only. The present amendment to the Act encompasses the frequency licence and renewal fees for data communication as well.

Previously, the government used to charge Rs 30,000 for frequency licence fee and half of the amount as renewal fee for any frequency users irrespective of the capacity of their bandwidth on an ad hoc basis.

The private sector has welcomed the move of the government as a good step forward in the charging of fees to such licencees.

Allen Tuladhar, CEO of the Unlimited Numedia, an ISP, says, "It is a straight forward and positive decision of the government. And it is better to have a concrete law like this. It has slashed down charges proportionally".

It will not only ease the payment of their licence and renewal fees of the operators but also ease the assessment of their operation cost, he added.

The confusion and controversy regarding the charges of frequency and renewal fees had soured the relations between the ISPs and the Ministry in the past. Almost every year both the parties fought for settling the rates.

Shishir Kumar Singh, Chief Administrative Manager with the e-net, an another ISP, is also happy with the government’s decision on the charges.

"Though late, the government has taken a good step. The new provision would better the relationships between the Ministry and the frequency licencees as it ends the bureaucratic hassles. The Ministry has done a good job. It reduces the fees of the small ISPs," says Singh.

Such laws have to be in place in time. It is especially necessary in the field of information technology (IT), in which new technologies emerge almost every couple of months, he added.

42m shares traded in ’01

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KATHMANDU, Jan 13: Despite an increment in the number of companies enlisted with the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) in 2001, the total turnover of the only secondary market of the country declined during the year.

The annual report of the Nepse issued here Sunday, which marked the ninth anniversary of the stock exchange, Nepse’s total turnover in 2001 stood at Rs.1.5 billion, down by over 33 per cent than that of the previous year. The secondary market’s turnover in 2000 had been Rs.2.25 billion.

While the Nepse’s daily turnover during 2001 stood at Rs.6.34 million, it was Rs 9.51 million during the previous year, according to the report. The market capitalization realized during the year was valued at Rs.38.54 billion, down from Rs 59.7 billion the previous year.

While the total share transactions during the year ran over 42 million, the same stood at a little over 41 million in 2000. A total of 134.38 million shares valued at Rs.9361.04 million were listed during 2001. The number of shares enlisted during the previous year was 116.35 million, which was valued at Rs.7576.44 million, according to the report.

The percentage of turnover to paid-up value during 2001 stood at 16.05 percent. However, the same was 29.74 percent during 2000. While the percentage of turnover to market capitalization stood at 3.9 percent during 2001, the same was 3.77 percent during 2000.

The report further noted that Bank of Kathmandu topped the trading list at the NEPSE in terms of share units and the value of transacted shares with more than 421 thousand share transacted at Rs.339.47 million in 2001.

However, it is the Nepal Merchant Bank and Finance Company that had the maximum number of transactions during the year. It had a total of 6760 transactions in 2001.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Bank topped the list on the basis of market capitalization, which was put at Rs.5432.78 million. It may be recalled that there are 118 companies enlisted at the NEPSE for the share transactions.

4th AGM of NIC bank held

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KATHMANDU, Jan 13 : The fourth Annual General Meet (AGM) of Nepal Industrial and Commercial (NIC) Bank held in Biratnagar on Sunday approved a 10 per cent dividend, as recommended by its Executive Committee, said a press communiqué issued by the bank here today.

According to an annual report forwarded by Jagadish Prasad Agrawal, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the bank, the bank has mobilized a total deposit of Rs.3.57 billion while its total lending was Rs.2.62 billion during last year. This has been said as an increment by 76 percent and 58 percent, respectively, in comparison to the last year’s figures.

The communiqué further noted that the net profit of the bank stood at Rs.48.2 million during the year with an increment by 99 percent in comparison to its last year’s earnings.

The bank, established three and a half years back, has an authorized capital of Rs.1 billion and the issued capital of Rs.500 million. The bank is into operation in major cities of the country through its five branches.

New team at Soaltee

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KATHMANDU, Jan 13:The meeting of the Board of Directors of Soaltee Hotel Limited held Thursday has elected Siddhartha SJB Rana, currently the President of the Hotel, as its Chairman and Dinesh B Bista as the President and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Hotel.

According to a press release issued by the Hotel, Siddartha SJB Rana would replace Prabhakar SJB Rana, who has retired as the Chairman and the CEO of the Hotel. Prabhakar SJB Rana was with the company for the last 42 years and had served as Chairman and CEO for over eight years.

Siddhartha JBS Rana holds an MBA from the Henley School of Management, UK and has numerous educational and professional affiliations, says the release. Last year, he was elected as the Global Leader for Tomorrow by the "World Economic Forum" in Davos.

Dinesh B Bista, a Chartered Accountant by profession, became the first Nepali to be appointed as a Finance Comptroller of the Soaltee Crowne Plaza in 1995 by the Bass Hotels and Resorts. He joined Soaltee Hotel Limited as the Vice President- Finance in 1997, says the release.