After the awarding of 4G license to Ncell, there has been a debate about the Ncell 4G issue. Some people mostly Ncell users were supporting the decision whereas some expressed their concern for the huge (CGT) Capital Gain Tax amount. Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament has also asked NTA for the reason for providing 4G license to Ncell. NTA has issued the 4G license to Ncell following the directives from development committee.
Earlier it was on hold due to PAC’s decision for the same. PAC decided on the issue of the unresolved CGT from Ncell and asked MOIC, NTA not to issue any new service before clearing the tax.
There has also been a debate regarding the jurisdiction of several parliamentary committees. The directives / decisions from two parliamentary committee are contradictory to each other for the Ncell 4G issue.
The development committee decided not to bar the 4G license to Ncell, that is against 10 million customers right for new technology. It is known that DC’s head MP Rabindra Adhikari (UML leader), NTA head and Ncell personnel had met on several occasions to give directives, award license as per their strategy.
Meanwhile NTA, the regulator has replied to PAC in relation to Ncell 4G. In the reply, they claim of awarding no new service and frequency to Ncell. But they mentioned of issuing technology neutrality license to Ncell, that paves the way for 4G in same available spectrum. NTA has provided the answer to the committee through Ministry.
According to Kantipur daily report, the answer from NTA is conflicting, as in one point it mentions no new frequency has been provided for 4G. In another point, it mentions of issuing 4G through technology neutrality.
What is Ncell Capital Gain tax CGT issue?
More than a year before, Malaysian operator Axiata bought Ncell at 1 billion USD from European giant Telia-sonera. As per the rule, 25 percent of the profit made from the sale, shall be provided to government as Capital Gain taxes. After huge pressure, Ncell has deposited 15 billion (arba) to Government which is 15 percent withholding tax, or tax-deductible at source for the capital gains. But the issue is not resolved as there has been chores for tax amount to be huge, nearly 33 billion rupees.
There has been attempts of clearing the issue from the cabinet. They agreed to get the tax amount from seller, based on the verbal proposal of Finance minister. But soon they had to revert back, due to huge pressure from people and tax pundits. Large Taxpayers office (LTO) is also having close look on the issue and conclude after serious assessment.
Please feedback us how do you feel about this Ncell 4G license issue.
