Nepal Telecom has officially cancelled the tender for its new real-time billing and customer support system, scrapping a procurement process valued at around Rs 5.5 billion that had been mired in controversy.
In a public notice, the state-owned telecom operator said its board meeting held on Friday decided to cancel the tender altogether. The decision comes amid persistent problems with Nepal Telecom’s existing billing system, supplied by Chinese company AsiaInfo, which has repeatedly malfunctioned, causing frequent disruptions in data and postpaid mobile services.
Efforts to replace the outdated system had stalled after the tender process became contentious. Earlier, former Minister for Communications and Information Technology Jagdish Kharel had directed Nepal Telecom to halt the tender a day before technical proposals were to be opened, citing concerns that proceeding amid controversy could create further complications. Kharel resigned earlier this week to contest the upcoming election.
Although the tender was initially suspended temporarily, Nepal Telecom has now formally scrapped the entire process. Sources say the suspension and subsequent cancellation were influenced by concerns over possible geopolitical implications, particularly related to awarding the contract to a Chinese company.
The United States Embassy has reportedly raised serious concerns about Nepal Telecom’s core network and billing systems being operated by Chinese firms, urging the company to consider alternative suppliers. However, despite the high contract value, no American firms submitted bids. Eventually, only two Chinese companies—Whale Cloud and Huawei—participated in the tender.
Nepal Telecom was in the process of technically evaluating bids and was preparing to shortlist Huawei when the process was halted, ultimately leading to the cancellation of the tender.
