Kathmandu, August 7
It has been months since the country’s telecommunications regulator, Nepal Telecommunications Authority, issued a new Interconnection Guideline, requiring telecom companies to slash the charges they levy on inter-network phone calls.
The companies were given the deadline of April 2 this year to implement the new guideline. However, it has been found that no major telcos of the country have heeded the order.
Currently, the companies charge 54 paisas per minute as the interconnection charge, but the guideline requires them to limit it to 10 paisas. It means once the directive comes into implementation, a one-minute telephone call from one network to another will cost less by 44 paisas.
Dilli Ram Adhikari, the managing director of Nepal Telecom, one of the biggest telcos of the country, says the company has already reduced the interconnection charge to the extent possible, adding implementing the new guideline could hamper the amount of revenue that the company would pay to the government.
The authority’s spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal, meanwhile, warns of action against the companies flouting the rule.
