NTA cancels the license of Nepal Satellite (Hello Nepal)

NTA has canceled the license of Nepal Satellite Telecom company which operates under the brand name Hello Nepal. NTA board on Sunday decided to scrap the license of the telecom company owned by businessman Ajay Sumargi.

The telecom operator had pending due of around Rs 80 crore (NRs 800 million). For which, NTA had given 15 days time frame to pay Rs 70 million whose deadline was Bhadra 1. But the Nepal Satellite telco was unable to pay the amount until the deadline. As per NTA chairman Mr. Purushottam Khanal, NTA canceled the license of Nepal Satellite taken from them, due to their inability to pay royalty and renewal fees within time.

• NTA renews Nepal Telecom’s mobile license after first installment payment for Rs 20 billion.
• Telecom operators of Nepal.

Earlier Smart Telecom having pending dues in the name of several fees, could save its license cancellation. Out of the NRs 2 billion and 590 million amount, Smart Telecom paid around Rs 300 million within the time frame as told by NTA.

Nepal Satellite company (Hello Nepal)

Nepal Satellite Pvt. ltd got the rural telecom operator license on 2064 B.S Falgun. They operated their limited mobile service based in GSM in Midwestern and Far western region. The company could have also got a unified license to operate the mobile service all over Nepal. But they confined themselves in those regions only, based on the earlier license. Due to several technical issues, their mobile network was also not operational for a long time.

New Foreign operator?

NTA announced their plan to cancel the license of those telcos who are holding the license. They also plan to give such license to foreign companies, to make the market more competitive.

Although the decision has been taken for license cancellation, Setopati reports that the telco can go for an appeal to the Government within 35 days. There is also a chance that the Government could hold the decision to keep Hello Nepal license.