Internet service which was interrupted on Thursday has started to work.
Service providers including Worldlink, Subisu, Vianet have issued notices that internet service has been restored. But they have not revealed whether this is a permanent or a temporary solution.
The international bandwidth provider had stopped the internet service from Thursday afternoon. The customers were upset by that.
Internet service opened with the activation of ISP
After the collective commitment of the ISPs of Nepal to pay the outstanding dues to the Indian bandwidth seller as soon as possible, the internet service was resumed from midnight.
“All the affected ISPs have sent a letter of commitment saying that they will pay the remaining amount as soon as possible, that’s why they are ready to resume the service,” said Binay Bohora, Managing Director of Vianet Communication.
After the government of Nepal stopped ISPs sending bandwidth money for 9 months, the Indian companies stopped the bandwidth supply from 4 pm yesterday.
He said that the dispute between the government and the ISPs has caused suffering to the consumers, and he said that the Indian companies are ready to resume services for a few days after requesting them not to cause suffering to the customers.
Keshav Nepal, CEO of World Link Nepal, also informed that the service has been restored after sending a letter requesting not to block the internet service. “After sending a warning letter that you cannot shut down the internet like this, the service resumed,” he said.
On Thursday evening, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology issued a statement and requested the service providers to pay the fees and royalties as per the rules and not to block essential services like internet. The ministry reminded the legal system that the internet started working a few hours after making the request.
Major bandwidth providers in Nepal import bandwidth from Airtel, Tata, Reliance and other companies and provide internet services in Nepal. Some internet service provider companies in Nepal have not paid the amount of service fee and royalty to the government.
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology is demanding to pay the outstanding dues under the maintenance heading. However, internet service providers have been maintaining that maintenance does not fall under telecommunication services. They have been paying only royalties and RTDF (Rural Telecommunication Development Fund) dues from the income other than the maintenance fees charged by the Telecom Authority.
International bandwidth providers have not received payment due to this dispute between the government and internet service providers. Since the Internet service providers of Nepal have not paid the money for the bandwidth taken from India’s Airtel for a year, it has been saying that it is waiting and that the Internet may be interrupted at any time.
After the internet service across Nepal was affected around 4 pm, on Thursday, the employees of Nepal Telecommunication Authority went to the offices of Vianet and others and inquired about the reason. They inquired whether the internet was cut from here or from abroad.
