Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), the regulatory body of telecom sector, has prepared a 10-year long-term plan to develop, expand and regulate telecom services effectively.

According to Bhesh Raj Kanel, Chairman at the authority, the ten-year plan has incorporated a wide range of issues including service quality, service availability, and spectrum management to introduce efficient, equitable and effective price system. NTA continues to take an active role in shaping the relationship between regulation and competition in the electronic communications sector in the days to come.

In its annual report for 200910, it has stated that the key regulatory issues such as inter-connection, universal access and licensing can be seen as making up a first wave of regulatory reform that has been vital to growing the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) sector in developing countries.

As per reports, there is a need for encouraging efficient deployment of Next Generation Network (NGN) to meet bandwidth-hungry customers’ needs while maintaining a pre-competitive environment that fosters the emergence of new, innovative players, pledging that it will develop these frameworks to help operators.

According to the authority, there was a significant development in telecommunications sector in 2009-10. The number of VDCs without telephone services was 380 in the beginning of the fiscal year whereas the services are available in all VDCs of the country.

Kanel added that the overall tele-density has increased from around 23% to around 31% at present. With the number of service providers increasing and the inherently-converged service capabilities that the technologies can potentially offer, policy making, legal framework and regulation will be significant challenges.