KATHMANDU, Feb 4: Nepal Telecom (NT), the largest tax payer, is targeting to pay Rs 19.61 billion in revenue to the government in the current fiscal year.
Speaking at the ninth anniversary of NT at a program in the capital on Monday, Amar Nath Singh, managing director of the company, said they were preparing to pay additional Rs 1 billion compared to what the state-owned operator paid last year.
NT had paid Rs 18.72 billion in revenue, including income tax of Rs 5.64 billion, to the government in 2011/12. It had earned net profit of Rs 11.60 billion in the last fiscal year.
As a part of celebrating 9th anniversary of NT, Singh also announced discounts on various services offered by NT. GSM and CDMA users can enjoy 50 percent discount till mid-April in SMS service. Likewise, PSTN users can make up to 225 local calls at the cost of Rs 200 till mid-June. PSTN users were getting only 175 free calls at the same price previously.
The operator has also announced to provide 10 GB data as bonus with purchase of 32, 48 and 64 GB data under WiMAX service till mid-March. Similarly, under the new tariff valid till mid-March, NT users can make night call (10 pm to 6 am) at 30 paisa only. The existing tariff is one rupee per minute.
The international call tariff for Australia and England via access code has also been slashed to Rs 7.75 and Rs 4 per minute from Rs 12 per minute.
Singh also said NT was replacing existing BTS with powerful ones to improve quality of service. “New BTS are power efficient and have longer battery backups,” he said, adding that the operator has also established maintenance control center for maintenance of BTS.
NT is preparing to start distributing 10 million GSM lines and 2 million IP CDMA lines within this fiscal year. “We are hopeful that the service will be of great help for rural folks who still don´t have access to telecommunications service,” added Singh.
Speaking at the program, Minister for Information and Communications Raj Kishor Yadav said the government was positive about amending necessary regulations to help NT implement its plan and simplify its procurement process.
On the occasion, NT also felicitated seven largest balance top-up card sellers - one each from its regional offices. Krishna Prasad Pokharel of Continental Marketing sold recharge cards worth Rs 2.99 billion in the last fiscal year.
NT has total subscriber base of more than 8.41 million, including GSM, CDMA and fixed line users.
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