By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Indian joint venture United Telecom Ltd, the first private operator in Nepal's telecom sector, has been given the go-ahead to start VOIP (voice over internet protocol) service – a technology that is expected to slash international long distance (ILD) call costs from here substantially.
After the green signal came from Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) late last week, UTL, a joint venture between India's MTNL, VSNL and Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd and Nepali partner Nepal Venture Pvt Ltd, has begun a feasibility study to identify the partners and phone routes it can ally with overseas to offer the new technology to its subscribers in Nepal.
Though the study will take at least a month, according to initial estimates, UTL will need to invest about NRS 150 million (Over $2 million) to implement the new technology.
Along with the Indian joint venture, NTA also authorised the state agency, Nepal Telecom, to operate VOIP technology. VOIP is a technology and not Internet services used for call bypass by illegal operators.
The move comes after the Himalayan nation has been losing annually around NRS 8 billion, at a conservative estimate, due to illegal ILD call bypass services offered by public phone booths and cyber cafes mushrooming all over Nepal.
Though Internet calls – routing ILD calls through computers by adding a voice card and other modifications – is illegal in Nepal, as in India, phone booths and cyber cafes in both countries thrive on it, causing the government as well as telecom service providers a loss of billions.
The VOIP technology means sending calls through several routes simultaneously though without using the Internet.
The Nepal gesture comes as a placatory offer after NTA made a discriminatory gesture earlier this month.
Though UTL and Nepal Telecom have identical licences to offer phone services based on the wave technology employed by cellular phones, NTA this month allowed the Nepali company to offer full mobility while UTL has been given only limited mobility.
This means while a UTL subscriber can use his phone as a mobile only up to a certain area, Nepal Telecom's phones using the same technology can be used anywhere in the country, like mobile phones.
This is not the first time that UTL has suffered discrimination.
Though its licence, acquired in 2002, said it would be able to offer ILD calls to both UTL and Nepal Telecom subscribers from 2004, the facility was given only in 2006.
Also, during the 15 months that King Gyanendra ruled Nepal from February 2005, triggering violence and intense political instability, UTL phone services were closed for six times, causing a loss of millions.