meroLagani | NT refuses to pay license renewal fee

meroLagani | NT refuses to pay license renewal fee

KATHMANDU, Sept 14: While the private operators, including Ncell, were waiting for Nepal Telecom´s response on outstanding dues, the state-owned operator on Wednesday said it will not pay license renewal fee worth Rs 20 billion.

Responding to queries of lawmakers of a sub-committee under the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Vishwanath Goel, managing director of NT, said the amount was too high to pay in every five years.

“Operators eying to sale their operating license can sustain, but those that intend to continue their service will find it difficult to sustain with such high renewal fee,” Goel added.

Ncell officials on Monday had expressed commitment to pay license renewal fee worth Rs 20 billion, if NT is willing to clear its outstanding fee.

As per the pre-condition of operating license, NT must pay Rs 210 million as license fee and Rs 20 million as renewal fee every five years. It, however, paid only 10 percent of licensing fee while renewing license about two years ago.

Goel also requested the government to treat all operators equally. “If we are to follow Public Procurement Act while purchasing products or services, other operators must follow it,” he said, adding that the government´s formalities were hindering NT´s growth.

Officials of Nepal Satellite Telecom (NST) - a rural telecom operator -- also said that they were not in a position to clear their outstanding dues. Mani Chaulagain, CEO of NST, said that were facing loss of Rs 30 million every month. “Despite being a rural telecom operator, we haven´t received any incentives from the government,” Chaulagain said.

Source: www.myrepublica