Nepal Telecom Authority cancels process of having its own satellite

Kathmandu: Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) has canceled the process of having its own satellite. The authority issued a notice today stating that the old proposal has been canceled to move the new process forward.

According to the authority, selected companies were rejected as they failed to respond after the proposal was accepted. NTA has decided to cancel all the proposals and procurement processes as per the Public Procurement Act, 2063 BS.

The Telecommunication Authority of Nepal (TAN), had last November called for a new proposal to regulate the establishment of satellites and decide on security, trade, and operation modalities by canceling the old proposal.

As per the NTA’s proposal, nine companies from different countries had submitted their letter of intent last December. Out of the nine companies that submitted letters of intent, NTA had declared five companies technically qualified and demanded financial proposals.

Of the five companies asked for proposals, only four submitted proposals. NTA had demanded financial proposals from the four companies. NTA co-spokesperson Achutananda Mishra informed that the process had to be canceled as the financial proposal was not received within the stipulated time.

According to him, the process of launching Nepal’s own satellite will start from the new process.

The government had made public its satellite policy in June 2076, saying that it would launch its own satellite by 2022.

Earlier, 22 companies from 12 countries had expressed interest in having satellites in the letter of intent called by NTA to keep Nepal’s own satellites.

Twenty-two companies from the United States, China, India, Thailand, Singapore, Canada, France, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Israel had submitted proposals to keep satellites for Nepal.

As the telecommunication service provider’s radios and televisions are being operated by foreign satellites, the government aims to operate the radios and televisions by connecting its own satellites.