Spectrum issues in Nepal
P. KhanalNepal Telecommunications Authority
[email protected] Admin,HR, Finance and Rural telecom
Africa Asia Regulatory conferenceColombo, Sri-Lanka
Dang
Banke
Bard ia
SurkhetKaila li
Kanchanpur
D adeldhura
Baitad i
D oti
Bajhang
Achham
D archula
H um la
Bajura
D ailekh
Kalikot Jum la
M ugu
Jajorkot
SalyanR olpa
R ukum
D olpa
Baglung
M yagdi
M ustang
Pyuthan
Arghakhanchi
G ulm i
Palpa
Syangja
Parbat
Kaski
Tanahu
M anang
KapilbastuR upandehi N aw alparasi
C hitw an
lam jung G orkha
Dhading
R asuw a
N uw akotS indhupalchowk
Kavre
M akaw anpur
La litpur
Parsa
Bara
Rau
taha
t
Sarlahi
Mahotta
ri
D hanusa S iraha
Saptari
U dayapur
SunsariM orang
Jhapa
Illam
Panchthar
Taple jung
S indhuli
R am echhap
D olakhaSolokhum bu
O kha ldhungaKhotang
Bhojpur
Sankhuw asava
D hankuta
Tehrath
um
Ta p le jung
Fid im
Illa m
Te h rat h
u m
Dha nkuta
J ha p a
Dha ra n
Biratn
a g a r
Kha nd b a riSa lle ri
O kha ld ung a
Dite l Bho jp ur
Ina ra wa
G a ig ha t
Ra jb ira j
Sira ha
J a na kp ur
Jale
sow
or
M a la ng a wa
Sind hulim a d hi
Ram
e chh
a p
C ha riko t
Dulikhe l
C ha uta ra
Bid ur
Dha d ing Be siKTM
BHK
PATAN
He ta und a
Bhim p he d i
G a ur
Ka la iya
Birg unj
Bha ra tp ur
G o rkhaDa m a uli
Be nsi Sa ha r
C ha m e
Po kha ra
Sya ng ja
Pa lp a
Pa ra siBha ira ha waTa uliha wa
Sa nd hi Kha rka
Ta m g ha sh
Ba g lung
Be ni
J o m so m
Pyutha nG ho ra h i
Tulsip ur
Liwa ng
Sa lya n
J um likha la ng
Duna i
J um la
J a ja rko t
Bire nd ra Na g a r
N e p a lg unj
G ula riya
Da ile kh
M a nm a
G a ng a d hi
Sim iko t
M a rta d i
M a ng a lse nSilg a d hi
Dha ng a d hi
C ha inp ur
Da rc hula
Ba ita d i
Da d e ld hura
M a he nd ra N a g a r
D ip a ya l
Kush
ma
Dhunc he
Buta wa l
3
China
India
India
India
Location: 260 22' to 300 27' N Latitude
800 4' to 880 12' E Longitude
Area: 147,181 Sq Kilometer
Length: 885 Kms east to west
Breadth: 145 to 241 Kms north to south
Population: About 26.6 Millions
NEPAL
Geographical Divisions:The Himalayan Region–Altitude ranges from 5000m to 8848m –Composed of Himalayas and snowy mountains–Covers 15% of total area
The Hilly Region–Altitude ranges from 300m to 5000m –Consists of hills, green woods and fertile valleys –Covers 68% of Total Area
The Terai (Plain) Region–Altitude ranges from 300m or less –Rich in agricultural production –Covers 17% of total area
Administrative Divisions:–5 Development Regions–14 Zones–75 Districts–58 Municipalities & 3914 Village Dev. Committees
MOIC
Telecom ACTTelecom Regulation
Telecom Policy
NTA
Telecom Sector
Telecommunications Sector at a glance
Major Telecommunications services in Nepal
Nepal Telecom
Ncell Pvt. Ltd.
United Telecom Ltd..
STM Telecom
Nepal Satellite
Smart Tel Pvt. Ltd
Fixed, Cellular Mobile based on GSM and CDMA, services throughout the country.
Cellular Mobile Service based on GSM technology.
Basic service WiLL, using CDMA technology.
STM is providing VSAT based PCO in EDR.
Nepal Satellite has started its service in the MWDR
Smart Tel has started its services in the remote VDCs of the all development regions other than the EDR.
Service
Tele-Density • Services Penetration Rate • Fixed 3.17%• Mobile 50.16% • Others (LM, GMPCS) 3.13%
• Total 56.46%
Note: Projected Population for 2011 is 26,620,809 (Source : cbs.gov.np) Source: MIS NTA
9The overall telecom Scenario and telecom penetrationOperators Available Voice Telephony
Services Fixed Mobile Others Total
PSTN
WLL GSM CDMA LMS GMPCS
NDCL 612,720
153,469
5,646,682
856,234
- - 7,269,105
UTL - 71,072
520,439
591,511
NCELL
6,851,561
6,851,561
STM 5,108 155 5263
NSTPL
2,575 109,330
111,905
Smart 598 202,442
203,040
GMPCS
1,742 1,742
Total 618,426
227,116
12,498,243
856,234
832,366
1742 15,034,127
GSM 900: 887.6-915 MHz Paired with
932.6-960 MHz
GSM 1800: 1710-1755 MHz paired with 1805-1850 MHz
CDMA 800: 824-841.25 MHz Paired with 869-886.25 MHz
CDMA 1900: 1850-1880 MHz paired with 1930 1960 MHz
IMT 2000(3G): 1960-1980 MHz paired with 2150-2170 MHz
Apex entityRadio Frequency Policy Determination Committee (RFPDC)
The committee is chaired by Minister of information and Communications
and the member s of committee are as follows: -
(a)Minister or Minister of State,I nformation and Communications – Chairman
(b) Secretary, Ministry of Home – Member
(c) Secretary, Ministry of Defense – Member
(d) Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation – Member
(e) Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communications – Member
(f) Chairman, Nepal Telecommunications Authority – Member
(g) At least Gazetted first class or expert Officer equivalent there to designated by Nepal Government - Member - Secretary
(a)To determine the policy relating to radio frequency.
(b) To fix and allocate the radio frequency for different services .
(c) To determine the pricing policy of radio frequency.
(d) To determine the policy for international and multi purpose coordination of radio frequency.
(3) Other functions, duties and powers and procedures relating to the meeting of the committee shall be as prescribed.
The Committee shall fix and allocate radio frequency for different services, subject to the frequency allocated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
It shall be the function of the Ministry to make coordination in consonance with the policy on international and multipurpose coordination of radio frequency formulated by the Committee.
NTA’s Responsibility
NTA shall carry out the act of prescribing and distributing the frequency to be used for the telecommunications service subject to the frequency fixed and allocated by the RFPDC.
The Authority shall prescribe the terms to be observed by the Licensee while using the frequency in operating the telecommunications service.
The Authority shall have the powers to inquire and monitor as to whether the Licensee has used the frequency in consonance with the terms prescribe under telecom rule.
while conducting inquiry or monitoring ,if the Licensee has not used the frequency in consonance with the terms, the Authority shall provide a reasonable period of time as well as an opportunity to the Licensee to use the frequency in accordance with the terms.
If the Licensee fails to use the frequency in consonance with the terms even within the period of time so provided, the Authority may prohibit the frequency used by him.
The License and Radio Spectrum fee including other fees shall be collected only for sufficiently covering the overhead (Operation) cost of the body working thereof.
Payment of Fees : The Licensee shall have to pay the fees while using the frequency prescribed by the Committee in connection with the operation of the telecommunications service.
NTA shall have to deposit the fees received above to Nepal Government.
Decision of RFPDC for the GSM, CDMA frequency fee in 2002 was as follows:
GSM/CDMA Cellular Mobile System fee
Radio Frequency Fee = C ∑ No. of pair of spot frequency for station n.n =1, 2, 3,……… Where, n is any integer subjected to no. of Fixed station.C is a fixed number in accordance with Appendix 7,6 (b) 4 of the Radio Communications (License) regulation, 2049. This constant C is amendable as per the clause 24 of the above mentioned Regulation by the Ministry of Information and Communications. The value of C is currently fixed at Rs. 6,000.00 (Six Thousand) Rupees.
With consultation with the international experts NTA requested govt. to formulate new frequency pricing policy in 2008
The main features in the recommendations were:
• Proper utilization of the scarce resources.
• The recommendation was to encourage licensee to use spectrum to fulfill their actual needs only.
•Provision to discouraged to hold spectrum . (More Charge )
•To contribute govt . Revenue as well
After above recommendation, meeting of the RFPDC could not arranged for two years i.e. up to 2010 due to various region.
In the absence of the committee ,Minister and MOIC instructed NTA to assign 3G spectrum to the incumbent operator , subject to pay fees from the initial phase of the uses when RFPDC decides on it.
And to provide equal level playing field ,NTA it self assigned 3G frequency under above condition to the private telecom operators as well.
S.N CDMA
800GSM 900 GSM 1800 CDMA 1900 IMT 2000 Total
Allocated Band operator
16 27.4 45 30 20 141
NDCL 8 7.2+2.4* 9+6* 10 42.6
SNPL 6+2* 9+2* 10 29
UTL 3.75 1.25 5
NSTPL 4.4 9 18.4
STM 2.4 2.4
SMART 3
3 Guardband
Total Grand 11.75 27.4 38 1.25 20 103.4
Free Band 3.25 0.0 7 28.75 0 37.6
With close consultation with the experts and stakeholder NTA again requested govt. to formulate new frequency pricing policy again in 2010. and then RFPDC approved new pricing policy in 2011 (except 3G )
Spectrum Assignment Criteria for GSM and CDMA Annex-1
A.Bandwidth for Initial AssignmentTechnology
BW for Service in rural areas (MHz)
BW for Service including Urban areas (MHz)
GSM 2x2.4* 2x4.4
CDMA 2x2.5 2x2.5
Bandwidth (MHz) 2x2.4* 2x4.4 2x6 2x7.2 2x8 2x9
Subscriber Base ('000) 80 500 900 1,200 1,400 1,800
Revenue Base Rs ('000) 288,000 1,800,000 3,240,000 4,320,000 5,040,000 6,480,000
Bandwidth (MHz) 2x9.6 2x11 2x12 2x15
for BW>15 MHz
Subscriber Base ('000) 2000 2500 3000 4,500
200/MHz or
400/Paired MHz)
Revenue Base Rs ('000) 7,200,000 9,000,000 10,800,000 16,200,000
3.6 x number
of subscribers
Bandwidth (MHz) 2x2.5 2x3.75 2x5 2x6.25
Carriers (2 Carriers) (3 carriers) (4 Carriers) (5 Carriers)
Subscriber Base ('000) 500 800 2,500 5,000
Revenue Base Rs ('000) 1,800,000 2,880,000 4,320,000 6,120,000
Formula-1 annex-2
(2BWL + BWU)Annual Spectrum Fee (Rs.) = [P] X [AGR] X BWT
Where P: Percent figure. The value is currently fixed 0.7%. Radio
Frequency Policy Determination Committee may review the value of P as and when deemed necessary.
AGR: Annual Gross Revenue
BWL: Total Spectral Bandwidth assigned to the licensee in Lower Frequencies (e.g. CDMA800 and GSM/EGMS900)
BWU: Total Bandwidth assigned to the licensee in Higher Frequencies (e.g. CDMA1900 and GSM1800)
BWT: Total Bandwidth Assigned to the licensee = BWL +BWU
Formula-2
(2BWL + BWU)Annual Spectrum Fee (Rs.) = [P] X [AGR] X + R X (BWT - BWE) X αBWT
Where P: Percent figure. The value is currently fixed 0.7%. Radio Frequency Policy
Determination Committee may review the value of P as and when deemed necessary.
AGR: Annual Gross Revenue
BWE: Bandwidth Essential for the service, determined based on the Spectrum Assignment Criteria for GSM & CDMA (Annex-1, )
Total Bandwidth is the sum of all the 2G / 2.5 G (GSM and CDMA) Bandwidth.
BWL: Total Spectral Bandwidth assigned to the licensee in Lower Frequencies (e.g. CDMA800 and GSM/EGMS900)
BWU: Total Bandwidth assigned to the licensee in Higher Frequencies (e.g. CDMA1900 and GSM1800)
BWT: Total Bandwidth Assigned to the licensee = BWL +BWU
R: Annual Rate of Spectrum Charge (Rs/MHz) for Extra Bandwidth, Currently the value of R is fixed at Rs. 7,000,000/MHz and shall increase by Rs. 25 millions
every two years.
α Regional Coefficient: α = 1 as clarified overleaf in ponit 3 in page 2 of this Annex.
Main feature of the pricing policy
Fee for GSM and CDMA Spectrum
Fee for GSM 900 and 3G
Holding spectrum more than requirement
On the basis of (bandwidth + Certain percentage of
Revenue)
Double and triple than GSM 1800 respectively
Pay more fees as per formula no.2.
PAC has Investigated the entire spectrum allocation processes and gave its report for the immediate implementation.
Issues raise by PAC Instruction of PAC
Spectrum is scarce resources of country
spectrum were provided by adhock decision
Operators are holding more than necessary
spectrum
Country is loosing money
Prepare transparent and scientific policy on it instead of
previous one.
Detail investigation should be carried out by proper authority
Withdraw the more spectrum
Make necessary arrangements for auction