Last Updated on August 18, 2022
NTA (Nepal Telecommunication Authority), the regulator for telecommunication sector, has penalized the private telcos: UTL (United Telecom) and Smart Telecom. UTL had taken Unified license for operating basic telephony in the whole of country. That means they could operate GSM service in the country. But even after 1.5 years of taking the license, they have not even installed new towers in a single district. NTA also charges Smart Telecom a penalty, find out below for the reason.
According to NTA, they penalized UTL as they crossed the time limit for the network expansion as per the condition during the license award. NTA board takes the decision to charge the operator for the sum of 5 lakhs as a penalty.
UTL received Unified license in Bhadra 2073. As per the condition for the unified license, UTL had to expand their network to 44 districts in first year and 10 more in second year. But they had not even started a single one. The regulator NTA now directs the operator to expand their network to 54 districts within 6 months.
Previously we posted a news regarding the revival of UTL for 4G with the gathering of enough investment. But since then, we have not heard any news or update regarding the revival.
Penalty for Smart Telecom
NTA has also charged the third largest telco Smart Telecom. The operator getting their 4G license, need to expand their network to 18 districts within 2074 Bhadra. But within this period, they can only expand to 9 districts. So, the regulator has also fined Smart for the sum of 5 lakhs (0.5 million) NRs. NTA also directs the operator to complete the expansion within 6 months. The penalty is done as per the telecommunication Act.
