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| Kathmandu, Sunday May 18, 2003 Jestha 04, 2060. |
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Telecom sector needs more
openess: Experts
Post Report
KATHMANDU, May 17 : Experts, private internet
service providers (ISPs) and telecom operator today stressed for further opening the
information communication sector to private players and urged for slashing the tariff line
for expanding the business.
"While the majority of telephone consumers
are middle class populace, the NTC’s tariff is expensive for them to afford the
service and support the corporation’s service expansion," they said.
Speaking at a programme organised to mark 138th
International Telecommunication Day, they further noted that the country’s market
provides ample room for the coexistence of numerous players.
"NTC’s fear of entrance of private
operators affecting its services and expansion plan is based on false assumption,"
said N R Mokhariwale, Chief Executive Officer of United Telecom Limited (UTL). Citing
example of India, he said that the opening of the sector and increased competition helped
both the state-owned and private operators.
Entrance of private operators also helped the
state achieve its goal of linking more people into the service net ensuring them with the
rights of information and communication, conceded other speakers. Murari Shakya, President
of Internet Service Providers of Nepal (ISPN) also asked the government to make changes in
the existing policy to boost private investment in the sector.
"The charge of internet service has gone
down remarkably in last five years and the ISPs are willing to expand the services to
rural parts as well. But to materialise plan this into action, a conducive policy is
necessary," he said.
Keshav Bahadur Shah, General Manager of the NTC,
however, said that higher price for services was due to higher tax imposed by the
government and not due to corporation’s services. In the same breath, he added that
the corporation is concerned over the quality of its services and customer-orientation.
"Gone are the days of monopolistic
mindset," he said referring to the cut down effected in mobile telephone to Rs 7,500
from 52 thousand in 3 years. Shah further said that the NTC would soon expand its mobile
services in Bhairahawa and Butwal and later to Nepalgunj and Dhangadi.
He also stated that the corporation has
reestablished its basic services in rural and remote parts of the country after the
cease-fire announced between the government and the Maoists.
Referring to a message circulated by the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on the occasion of the day, Shah opined that
there was a need to formulate global policy to address 1.5 million villages across the
globe that are still not connected to information communication services.
The ITU’s message announced of the theme
"helping all of the world’s people to communicate" to mark the day.
Mentioning of the theme, Suresh Pudasaini, chairman of Nepal Telecommunication Authority
(NTA) requested various professional societies related to information communication sector
to recommended and come to the fore to materialising it.
The ITU’s has further announced to hold
first phase of the World Summit on information society from 10 to 12 December, 2003 in
Geneva. The summit, expected to be participated by political, business, media and civil
society leaders, aims at creating a shared vision of the ‘information age’ and
formulating an action plan to ensuring everyone benefits from technologies.
Mukunda Paudel, Secretary at Ministry of
Information and Communication (MoIC), Sugat Ratna Kansakar, DGM of the NTC and Ram Prasad
Sharma President of Society of Electronic Communication Engineers of Nepal too shared
their view on the occasion.
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