Sunday, February 17, 2008

Nepal gets fifth telephone operator

Nepal Satellite Telecom Pvt Ltd (NSTPL), a Nepal-Pakistan-Bangladesh joint venture company, has bagged licence to provide basic telephone services in the Mid Western and Far-Western parts of the country.
Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) today awarded the licence to NSTPL in which Nepali investors have 95 per cent share, whereas three per cent is held by Pakistan Mobile Communication Ltd and two per cent by Sewa Telecom of Bangladesh.
The company has already paid Rs 2.5 million for licence and pledged Rs 5 million as performance guarantee with the NTA.
As per the terms of reference of licence, NSTPL will have to set up main switching network in Mid-Western Region within the next 15 months and distribute at least two telephone lines each to 273 VDCs. The company also has to upgrade its system capable for distributing on-demand telephones to 50 per cent of the total area of the region.
Following the expansion of the network, NSTPL will be allowed to expand its services to rural areas of Western and Far Western development regions within the period of 30 months after licence was issued. After having expanded its capacity to provide on-demand telephone connections in all western regions, the company will be then allowed to expand its services to other parts the country.

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