Government receives 3 billion for frequency fees

The Government of Nepal has collected more than 3 billion rupees from the telecom operators in the name of frequency fees, for the year 2074/75. The sum is collected from 5 telcos namely, Ntc, Ncell, Smart, UTL, STM telecom, through regulator NTA.

Out of all five, Ncell pays the highest amount of Rs 1.49 billion which is Rs 0.19 billion more than last year. Ntc pays Rs 1.21 billion which is only Rs 0.1 billion more than last years sum. Similarly, UTL pays Rs 0.2 billion, Smart Telecom pays Rs 0.19 billion and STM telecom pays Rs 584 million for last FY. With such figures, we can frequency is one of the big expenses for the telcos.

As per the source, Nepal Satellite has not submitted the frequency fee for the FY 2074/75. The minimum frequency fee for any operator is 0.4 % of the total revenue. In case the fee crosses the minimum threshold, the price of the frequency fee depends on the operating spectrum band. The lower the frequency spectrum band higher will be the price of the frequency fees.

The price of 1 MHz frequency bandwidth in the 800-900 MHz spectrum is Rs 60 lakh whereas for 1800 MHz, its Rs 40 lakh. The frequency fees will increase if the amount of bandwidth used in  Wireless Telecom service is high.

Now more frequency bandwidth in several spectrum bands is used due to the increased usage of 3G and 4G services. The technology neutrality also comes into play here. So the amount collected from frequency fees have increased significantly over the years.

Apart from Telecom, other services like TV, Radio, GPS, Satellite, Avionics, WiFi and radio Internet uses several spectrum bands.

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