Kathmandu. Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) and Nepal Telecommunication Company Limited (NTC) have signed a written agreement for the optical fiber network expansion project in Gandaki and Lumbini provinces through the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF).

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung and Secretary at the Ministry of Communications Radhika Aryal signed the agreement. Chairman of Nepal Telecommunication Authority Bhupendra Bhandari and Acting Managing Director of Nepal Telecommunication Company Limited Sabina Maskey Pradhan signed the MoU.

Communications Secretary Aryal directed to complete the project within the stipulated time as it was not worthwhile to start the project alone.

According to NEA Chairman Bhandari, utl and smart telecom companies were given the responsibility of expanding the network in remote areas through RTDF funds in the past, but both the companies could not start the project. The government had launched the RTDF project in Koshi, Madhes and Bagmati provinces in 2073 BS with the objective of providing communication facilities to the rural areas.

Bhandari said that an agreement has been signed with NTC with the objective of restarting the project. As per the agreement, NTC has to expand optical fibre network in Lumbini and Gandaki provinces within three years. The project is estimated to cost around Rs 2.01 billion.

NeA Chairman Bhandari expressed commitment to fully implement the RTDF project. He believes that the project will be an important basis to fulfill the government’s ‘Digital Nepal Framework’ objective.

Similarly, NTC Acting Managing Director Pradhan said that broadbank optical fiber has been continuously expanding for the last nine years. He informed that fiber would be expanded in 23 districts of Lumbini and Gandaki provinces. Pradhan informed that the project aims to provide about 1,900 kilometers of optical fiber to a total of 194 local level centers.