Telecom and ICT sector in Budget 2077-78

Finance Minister has presented the annual budget of 1.47 trillion rupees for the fiscal year 2077/78 in the  Federal Parliament of Nepal (National Assembly and House of representatives). The budget mainly focuses on the health sector, employment, and economic revival.

ICT sector

Here in this post, we shall discuss the provisions for the ICT sector and its applications in the annual budget of FY 2020-21.

• Cashless transaction: The government shall promote digital payments to provide various services to people while residing at home. To make all the government revenues and payments transparent, the government will extend the digital payment system.
• National Payment Gateway: Government shall install the National Payment Gateway system for the integration of all the digital payments through a centralized server.
• Promoting home delivery: They have also planned to promote the delivery of several items to people’s homes.
• Mobile apps for farmers: They have planned to launch a mobile app for farmers with information on weather, seeds, technologies, and the market price of agriculture products. The above provision is formulated to increase agriculture productivity and reduce the risk of selling products.
• Fully online trading system of secondary shares: The budget also includes the provision to fully digitize the secondary share trading online.
• Digital learning: The budget plans to encourage online learning for students through digital platforms, television, and FM radio.
• International broadcast of Nepal TV: They have planned to broadcast the Nepal TV internationally.
• Establishment of Cybersecurity forensic lab: The budget includes the plan to initiate a forensic lab for cybersecurity and establish a separate security center.
• Vehicle license from online: The government shall implement a system to provide vehicle licenses from Digital means and also implement the embossed number plate system.
• E-passport: The government shall implement the electronic passport within the next fiscal year while the on-arrival visas will be provided online.
• National identity card: The government shall provide the National identity card to 1 crore more citizens, which shall include biometric information and unique identification number.
• Use of IT tools for disaster warning and alert: The government shall use IT tools to take precautions for Disaster with the early warning systems.
• Knowledge park: The government shall establish a National Knowledge (Gyan) park at Khumaltar, Lalitpur.

Telecom Sector

• Broadband internet in all areas within 2 years: The government has announced to deliver FTTH (Fiber internet) service and reliable broadband to all parts of the country within 2 years. Earlier they had planned to reach all areas within 2020. Find the current broadband penetration of the country.
• Nepal’s own satellite: Based on feasibility, Nepal will have its own satellite station in the space. Find more information on Nepal’s first satellite: NepaliSat-1.
• 4G expansion nation-wide: The government has announced that the 4G mobile network will be expanded nationwide in the next FY. Currently, Nepal Telecom 4G is expanded to 77 districts but not available in the whole parts of the country.

• Subsidy to Fixed broadband providers: The Government shall waive off the TSC (Telecom service charge) to the 50% of the maintenance charges for the Fixed broadband ISPs.

These are all of the provisions for the telecom and ICT sector in the annual budget of FY 2077-78. Please share your opinion regarding the budget provisions in the comment below.