Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has made a new regulation that paves way for it to take back unused frequency spectrum from telecom companies. The newly passed Telecommunication Service Based Radio Frequency Policy has made this provision which was decided a couple of weeks ago.
This policy will prevent telcos from hoarding the airwaves and instead encourage them to use the resources. Or else, NTA will bring it back which will free up the spectrum for others to use. The authority can allocate them to other service providers via spectrum auctions. The authority has received criticism in the past for not doing much about telcos holding the frequency without using them.
The committee’s meeting chaired by the communication minister (MoCIT) Rekha Sharma passed the new policy. The meeting revoked the earlier provision which was lenient on telcos for not fully committing to using frequency spectrum after getting them from the authority.
This new policy will discourage the act of not operating communication services while just holding the frequency. Likewise, it will ensure the maximum utilization of the frequency and contribute to better service quality. Using the frequencies to their optimum capacity also helps form a competitive telecom market.
With this policy, NTA will have the authority to get back the frequencies from telcos that only hold them. However, a member of the committee shared that the authority will allow service providers a six-month period to process the spectrums into the service.
“If a company does not comply with the instructions from the authority to provide service by using the unused frequency, it will be automatically returned,” a member of the committee said.