Nepal Telecom has selected a consultant for a strategic partner in the company 2 years ago. But there has not been any significant development in bringing a strategic partner in Nepal Telecom until lately. It was due to the CIAA (Commission for investigation of Abuse of Authority) hindrance for the alleged inspection. CIAA took all the files related to the strategic partnership, for the examination.
NT had given Letter of intent (LOI) to “Analysys Mason” for the consultant for the process to bring partnership. But CIAA took all the files urgently after two days of the LOI. After that, the process was in limbo for all these years until now.
Now that the previous CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki is facing impeachment in the parliament, CIAA has sent a letter to telecom to go ahead with the process. As it tells that the investigation is not needed on that project, NT opens up the process to bring the strategic partner in Nepal Telecom.
It seems like the previous move of CIAA’s head was due to his hidden interest to support private telecom operators like Ncell. As there is a belief that a Strategic partner in Nepal Telecom will make the government-owned company flourish with such a partnership. Kantipur daily writes “His motive was clearly to favor Ncell”, quoting officials in Telecom.
The government had decided to divest up to 30 percent of NT shares for the interested international telecom giants. Several international telecom giants like SingTel, SK Telecom, Airtel, NTT have shown interest to partner with Nepal Telecom.
After the divestment, the international giant will also take up a key management position in the company. That will surely help the company to compete well enough with private telcos due to instant decision-making. They will also start using efficient tools/techniques and make the fast rollout of projects. So, it is beneficial not only to the company, government but also to the customers for new, good quality services.
This is just one controversial story where a public entity makes decisions in favor of others. We will post other stories to save Nepal Telecom from these culprits. Stay tuned.
