Digambar Jha has been reappointed as the head of the NTA, Nepal Telecommunication Authority. He was also the former head of the regulatory body for the governing of telecommunication industry in Nepal.
He was first appointed as NTA chief 5 years ago but due to intervention of SC case, he could not start his work immediately. After 2 years of the appointment, Supreme Court acknowledged his appointment as NTA head on Oct 2014 and then only he could assumed the position.
His tenure was to complete on Mangsir 18 and known to be leave after that. But the latest cabinet decision came to appoint him for the same position again. Before coming to that decision, a committee was formed by Ministry of information and communication to evaluate his performance.
As the committee provided report of satisfactory performance during his tenure, Mr. Jha is reappointed by the Ministry.
Digambar Jha’s work during his tenure
The Government committee has already done their part to reappoint him. But We have summarized some of the works done during his first period as chief of the telecom authority.
- Unified license awarded to almost all telecom operators.
- Technology neutrality license awarded to three telcos.
- 4G technology introduced in Nepal. Fierce competition among three telcos. Ntc, Ncell and Smart cell.
- Infrastructure service license in the process.
- Use of RTDF for several projects like optical fiber laying, WiFi internet and more.
- Fast growth of mobile network with data.
- Voice call Pulse rate decreased to 10 seconds.
- Awarding of frequencies to small mobile operators.
- NTA Quality monitoring and compensation (although decided yet to be implemented in full form)
- Spectrum policy revisited.
- Nepals own satellite yet to completed.
- Registration of Mobile handsets. Pending.
Although there were some controversies during the award of 4G license through technology neutrality to Ncell, his tenure can be taken as a successful one. As there are more things to be done for the development of telecommunication in the country, we would like to congratulate him and wish for the successful completion of another 5 years.
