1. Interconnection Regime in Nepal
Nepal Telecommunications Authority

2. Regulatory Regime
Nepal Telecommunications Authority was established in 1998 as an autonomous regulatory body, to manage & regularize telecommunications services pursuant to the Telecommunications Act, 1997.
Separate Telecommunications Policy was formulated in 1999 in line with the National Communications Policy ,1992.
In order to benefit the Nepalese people from the dynamic technological changes around the World in telecom sector New Telecommunications Policy was formulated in 2004.

3. Telecom Statistics at a glance (as of Chaitra, 2066, 14 April, 2010)
Particulars
No.of lines
Tele-density
Fixed line PSTN and wireless
826,071
2.95%
Mobile GSM and CDMA
6,828,468
24.35%
Others(LM,GMPCS,WCDMA)
336,475
1.20%
Total
7,991,014
28.50% (

4. Data /internet services in Nepal (as of Chaitra, 2066, 14 April, 2010)
No. of line.
Dailup (PSTN +ISDN)
28,863
Wireless Modem, Optical Fibre Ethernet
13,000
Cable Modem, Cable etc.
32,500
ADSL
33,780
GPRS
749,929
CDMA 1X
85,160
Total
943,232

5. List of Licensees (as of 14 April, 2010)
The number of licenses issued by the NTA is as follows:
Basic Telecommunications 3
Cellular Mobile 2
Network service provider 9
VSAT user
Internet (including ) 42
International Trunk telephone 2
GMPCS
Rural telecom Service 2
Limited Mobility
Rural VSAT user 8
Rural internet service provider 5

6. Interconnection development
Interconnection Guidelines (IG) ………….
1st IG.
Based on retail tariff structure of incumbent operator rather than cost based.
Interconnection Guideline effective from May, 2008
Replaced the first IG
Based on LRIC+ model to cover the sunk costs, especially cost incurred for those infrastructures built in rural areas.
Does not cover NGN.
Two options for entering into Interconnection Agreement (IA)
Negotiating and establishing in good faith, with another licensee
Enter into an IA with another licensee by accepting another licensee's RIO.
Obligation to all operators to interconnect each other.
Interconnection usage charge is fixed by the NTA and operators may fix there own mutually agreed IUC but not exceeding rate fixed by the NTA.

7. Interconnection Usage Charge
IUC on international calls is as follows.
Incoming calls: International termination up to Point of interconnection (for circuit switch only) NRs 1.80 per minutes.
Outgoing Calls: The international gateway operator will receive 75% of the retail tariff.
New interconnection guideline does not address the IUC for VOIP service as well as other IP based services.

8. Tariff to call SATRC countries
Amount in USD per minutes
Countries
Nepal Telecom
United Telecom
Ncell
STM Telecom
Nepal Satellite
Smart Telecom
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri lanka
0.16
0.08 to 0.20
0.07 to 0.25
0.20
Maldives, Bhutan
0.20 to 0.25
0.22
0.24
Afghanistan
0.32
0.25 to 0.27
0.35
0.40
Except SATRC most of the countries
0.09 to 0.20
0.27 to 0.63
0.39
0.48