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Kathmandu. The Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISP) has clarified that the Internet service in the country has been interrupted due to the lack of seriousness of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. In a statement issued on Saturday, ISPAN, which is a common organization of internet service providers, has informed that the upstream Airtel has cut the internet link because it has not given foreign exchange recommendations for the past 13 months.
Upstream service providers including Airtel have not received their payments for a long time as the Telecom Authority and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology did not recommend foreign exchange. Aispan said that the international internet bandwidth service providers have repeatedly sent letters warning that the internet service may be interrupted if payment is not made, and the letter has been informed to both the authority and the ministry. Soon after, on 13 Baisakh 2081, through a press conference, he also informed about the matter.
“Despite repeatedly informing the ministry and the authorities, this matter was not taken seriously, so on 20th May 2081, Airtel unexpectedly blocked the service it was providing to the network service providers,” the statement of ISPAN said. As a result, almost 70 percent of Nepal's internet services were blocked.
“This has caused unimaginable and irreparable damage to the customers and internet service providers,” Aispan further said, “After tireless efforts by the association and the internet service providers that have been disrupted, although no written response has been received from Airtel, the internet service, which was closed for about 6 hours, has been regularized. We would like to inform you through this press release.
The union has expressed its gratitude to the fact that the authorities and the ministry have also taken initiatives on their behalf. According to the Telecommunication Act, Telecommunication Regulations and Rural Telecommunication Development Fund Regulations, royalties and RTDF, ISPs and network service providers are regularly submitting the royalties to be paid on the income of telecommunication services. Apart from that, there is no legal provision to pay royalty and Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF) fee for non-telecommunication services such as maintenance fees.
The Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament has repeatedly given instructions to deduct the unnecessary cost as the maintenance is a non-telecommunication service and does not involve royalty and RTDF, also the reports have been passed by the Federal Parliament and the Auditor General's Office has also deducted the said cost. In addition to this, the Supreme Court has also given an interim order not to collect RTDF and royalty on the maintenance fee, as the ministry and authorities have not given foreign exchange recommendations, so the internet service industry has collapsed.
“Government service providers in this state are easily getting foreign currency recommendations and facilitation despite billions of rupees in arrears, which is a discriminatory policy of the government,” the statement said.
Internet service providers have been playing an important and indispensable role in building Digital Nepal. At present, Nepal has managed to rank 8th in the world for providing cheap fixed broadband internet service, while more than 45 percent of the country's households and villages have access to fixed broadband. In this way, it has been informed through the statement that it is the responsibility of the Government of Nepal to protect the investment by encouraging private sector Internet service providers with billions of investments by providing employment to tens of thousands.
“Since we internet service providers have collected money from the consumers through fees and the Nepal government has also collected the money through taxes such as TSC (telecommunications service charge), VAT, TDSC, etc., it is the responsibility of both the government of Nepal and us internet service providers to provide uninterrupted service to the consumers,” it said. It has been said further, “Both the ministry and the authority must be responsible and sensitive in the responsibility of preventing the disruption of essential internet services and ensuring access to the internet for consumers. We also draw serious attention to playing a parental role in this.”
Upon receiving the foreign currency recommendation from the Ministry, we also declare a commitment on behalf of the service provider to pay foreign currency to the foreign upstream service providers without delay. Gratitude has also been expressed for the patience and cooperation shown by the service users in this situation.
Last updated: Baisakh 23, 2081 11:57
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