Nine Companies Interested For New Satellite Project in Nepal.

Last Updated on January 12, 2021

Nine international companies from different countries have shown interest in keeping Nepal’s satellite. The nine companies submitting bids are Beijing Space Technology of China, Celestial consulting of Singapore, Euroconsult of France, KISPE of UK, KPMG of India, London Economic Limited of UK, Space Partnership International of US, S3TEL of UAE, and SpaceTec partners of Germany. Find the details of Nepal’s new Satellite project and the reason for the delay.

Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) called for a letter of intent (LOI) from interested companies on December 16. As a result, NTA received proposals from nine companies from various countries.

Delay in the launching of Nepal’s satellite

NTA asked for a similar kind of LOI from interested companies four years ago. At that time, 22 international companies showed an interest in working for Nepal’s satellite. But, NTA canceled the procedure to launch Nepal’s own satellite a month ago. The cancellation of the procedure was due to various reasons.

NTA has again asked for EOI, but this time, the companies should fulfill some requirements for selection. The company should acquire 40 percent qualification, 50 percent experience, and 10 percent ability. The government has passed the new satellite policy nearly six months ago and wishes to launch Nepal’s own satellite by 2022.

New satellite policy

According to the new satellite policy, a new committee will be formed under the Ministry of communication and information technology. The committee will include members of the National Planning Commission, Secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defense, Vice-Chancellor of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Chairman of the Telecommunications Authority, and two experts on satellite communications.

Similarly, the policy also states that the government will utilize the fund collected in the rural telecommunication fund (RTDF) to install the satellite. Moreover, the telecommunication service providers can also deposit 2 percent of their annual income in this fund.