KATHMANDU, JUL 29 - 2012
Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is preparing to take the committed royalty issue of Nepal Telecom (NT) to its board with the latter refusing to pay the fees.
The state-owned telecom utility owes Rs 3.27 billion in royalty to the government for operation of mobile services. However it has refused to clear the dues, saying it is not supposed to do so as per the laws. Two weeks ago, NT said that since it has not acquired licence on the basis of Clauses 3 and 4 of Article 24 of the Telecommunications Act, it is not liable to pay the royalty. Clause 3 says that the NTA may fix the licence fee, renewal fee and royalty by negotiations with persons or firms and issue the licence.
According to Clause 4, the regulator may notify all eligible persons or firms for bidding in connection with the licence fee, renewal fee and royalty and will issue the licence to the one who quotes a maximum amount in the bidding. NT has said it obtained the GSM mobile operating licence on the basis of Article 18 of the act that allows the government to operate or cause to operate the telecom service by itself.
The NTA says NT must pay the royalty. “NT must pay the royalty based on its licence conditions that clearly hold NT responsible to pay the same,” said Bhesh Raj Kanel, the NTA chairman. He said they will discuss the issue with legal experts.
As per the licence condition No 15 (W) of the NT, it requires to pay the royalty, licence and renewal fees as committed by fellow operator Ncell. Chet Prasad Bhattarai, the general manager of the then Nepal Telecommunication Corporation and Bhup Raj Pandey, the chairman of the NTA in 1999 had also signed an agreement to pay the royalty to be committed by future mobile service operators.
“The issue will be discussed in the NTA board after holding consultations with legal advisers,” said Kailash Neupane, the spokesperson of the NTA. “We need to study the claim of the NT in a legal way to see on what basis it refused to pay the fee.” Based on the agreement and licence condition, NT has to pay Rs 3.90 billion in royalty, the committed fee by Ncell (the then Spice Nepal) while acquiring licence for mobile service in 2004. Of the total royalty for the first 10 years of GSM mobile service, NT has paid Rs 635 million in the form of four percent of its total annual incomes for the 10-year period. T says it had paid the 4 percent royalty as per Clause 26 of the Telecommunication Regulation. “Law clearly states that the royalty and agreement or conditions are minor things,” said an NT official.
The board is likely to come up with a decision to direct NT to pay the royalty first. If the operator disobeys, NTA can issue an ultimatum of 35, 70, or 105 days after which NT could knock the doors of the Appellate Committee, according to NTA officials. The telecom companies can file appeals against the decision of the NTA in the committee under the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Last year, in a similar case of committed royalty issue, United Telecom Limited (UTL) had filed a petition in the committee, which later came with a verdict in favour of the NTA holding UTL responsible to clear the dues of Rs 1.26 billion as of fiscal year 2010-11.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is preparing to take the committed royalty issue of Nepal Telecom (NT) to its board with the latter refusing to pay the fees.
The state-owned telecom utility owes Rs 3.27 billion in royalty to the government for operation of mobile services. However it has refused to clear the dues, saying it is not supposed to do so as per the laws. Two weeks ago, NT said that since it has not acquired licence on the basis of Clauses 3 and 4 of Article 24 of the Telecommunications Act, it is not liable to pay the royalty. Clause 3 says that the NTA may fix the licence fee, renewal fee and royalty by negotiations with persons or firms and issue the licence.
According to Clause 4, the regulator may notify all eligible persons or firms for bidding in connection with the licence fee, renewal fee and royalty and will issue the licence to the one who quotes a maximum amount in the bidding. NT has said it obtained the GSM mobile operating licence on the basis of Article 18 of the act that allows the government to operate or cause to operate the telecom service by itself.
The NTA says NT must pay the royalty. “NT must pay the royalty based on its licence conditions that clearly hold NT responsible to pay the same,” said Bhesh Raj Kanel, the NTA chairman. He said they will discuss the issue with legal experts.
As per the licence condition No 15 (W) of the NT, it requires to pay the royalty, licence and renewal fees as committed by fellow operator Ncell. Chet Prasad Bhattarai, the general manager of the then Nepal Telecommunication Corporation and Bhup Raj Pandey, the chairman of the NTA in 1999 had also signed an agreement to pay the royalty to be committed by future mobile service operators.
“The issue will be discussed in the NTA board after holding consultations with legal advisers,” said Kailash Neupane, the spokesperson of the NTA. “We need to study the claim of the NT in a legal way to see on what basis it refused to pay the fee.” Based on the agreement and licence condition, NT has to pay Rs 3.90 billion in royalty, the committed fee by Ncell (the then Spice Nepal) while acquiring licence for mobile service in 2004. Of the total royalty for the first 10 years of GSM mobile service, NT has paid Rs 635 million in the form of four percent of its total annual incomes for the 10-year period. T says it had paid the 4 percent royalty as per Clause 26 of the Telecommunication Regulation. “Law clearly states that the royalty and agreement or conditions are minor things,” said an NT official.
The board is likely to come up with a decision to direct NT to pay the royalty first. If the operator disobeys, NTA can issue an ultimatum of 35, 70, or 105 days after which NT could knock the doors of the Appellate Committee, according to NTA officials. The telecom companies can file appeals against the decision of the NTA in the committee under the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Last year, in a similar case of committed royalty issue, United Telecom Limited (UTL) had filed a petition in the committee, which later came with a verdict in favour of the NTA holding UTL responsible to clear the dues of Rs 1.26 billion as of fiscal year 2010-11.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
No comments:
Post a Comment