Eight foreign telecommunication firms have expressed theirinterest to provide telecommunications infrastructure service in Nepal.

Asper Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), eight firms from countries likethe United States, India, China, Lebanon, Nigeria and Malaysia have purchasedthe request for proposal (RfP) documents from the authority showing theirwillingness to obtain telecommunications infrastructure service licence inNepal.

Publishinga notice on November 3, the telecommunications sector regulator of the countrysought RfP from interested and eligible firms — both domestic and foreign — toprovide telecommunications infrastructure service in the country and promotesharing of telecom infrastructure.

“Thoughdomestic firms have not shown any willingness to provide telecommunicationsinfrastructure services, foreign telecommunication firms are increasinglypurchasing RfP from NTA. NTA expects that those who have taken RfP willgradually submit applications seeking the telecom infrastructure servicelicence,” said Min Prasad Aryal, spokesperson for NTA.

Asper Aryal, interested firms can submit their applications for telecommunicationservice licence till December 17.

NTAhas plans to initially issue telecommunications infrastructure service licenceto two eligible firms.

Thisis the first time that the government is gearing up to issue licence for thepurpose. By issuing the telecommunications infrastructure service licence, NTAaims to promote the culture of telecommunications infrastructure sharing in thecountry and reduce the cost of telecommunication services.

Currently,telecommunication service providers in the country have been developing theirown infrastructure to cater telecommunication services across the country. As aresult of this, telecom services are costlier in Nepal.

“Telecomservice providers have been using independent infrastructure to cater servicesat present. As developing independent infrastructure requires huge investment,this has made telecom services costlier in the country,” said Aryal.

Source: The Himalayan Times, 9thDecember 2017