Kathmandu, December 19: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has decided to allow Ncell to use the remaining mobile frequency under its 1800MHz band on condition that it first clears its outstanding capital gains tax to the government.
Ncell is required to pay Rs21.10 billion in capital gains tax as per the ruling made by the Supreme Court last month.
The private telecom giant was named as the highest bidder in a frequency auction held in the capital on Wednesday (Dec 18 ) for 16 MHz of cellular frequency. It outbid the state-owned Nepal Telecom (NT) to bag the additional transmission capacity for Rs58 million per MHz.
The NT had quoted Rs50.1 million per megahertz in the final round of the auction.
The NT has been using 15 MHz of its maximum limit of the spectrum, whereas Ncell has been utilizing 9.5 MHz of the band limit provided to it.
The authority held the auction for 900, 1800 and 2100 band frequencies, out of which Ncell has been selected for the remaining spectrum of 1800 MHz band.
Other private sector companies – Smart Cell, UTL and CG Telecom –were not allowed to participate in the bidding process because of their failure to abide by the existing laws.
According to the telecom regulator, the residual frequency has been auctioned to ensure maximum utilization of limited available frequency and cellular technology such as 4G.
