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The Himalayan country of Nepal seems to be a bit liberal when it comes to outgoing calls to SAARC countries, but an axe for the foreigners visiting the country as far as roaming tariff is concerned. If a customer picks up hundred calls during his stay, he has to shell out a sufficient amount enough to buy a middle range mobile handset in India. Thanks to the tourist traffic in the country, operators keep the roaming rates high to mint money. But, they also loose a considerable amount of money as now people switch SIM card, or do not use mobile phone at all while visiting the country.

The Market
Nepal is the fifth largest telecom market in the SAARC region after India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The country-bordered in the north by the Republic of China; and in south, east, and west by India-has a population of approximately 30 mn.

Spread in an area of 1,47,181 square kilometres, Nepal's total telephone subscriber base stood at 6.58 mn with an overall tele-density of 23.90% by the end of September 2009. A large part of Nepal's population do not have access to phones. Most of the telecom subscriber base of the country is wireless. The mobile subscriber base of the country stood at 5.65 mn. While the number of sky phones stood at 0.57mn, and wire line or fixed line user base stood at only 0.81 mn.

Tariff And Call Rate
UTL Nepal offers the minimum call rate to India. It is as low as NPR 3 on IP platform, and NPR 5 for normal calls to India. The company is banking on the fact that a large part of the Nepal's population is working in various parts of India, as they do not require work permit. Interestingly, the international call rates from India to Nepal is around INR 10. UTL Nepal, for rest of SAARC countries offers a call rate of NPR 15 on normal calls, while on IP platform the call to Bangladesh and Pakistan is as low as NPR 8.

"We do not believe in doing business for profit only, but also for the betterment of mankind. We are offering the minimum tariff to India among all operators, and keeping our margin less. The aim is to serve all the subscribers who have relatives in India. This also helps to get better traffic than competition," says S Kannan, CEO, UTL Telecom.

However, some of the operators charge subscribers as high as NPR 19 per minute for making any international call to any of the country during the peak hours. The tariff for the US and other countries of Asia is NPR 49 per minute.

Expensive Roaming
Roaming charges in the country are quite high. Indian mobile subscribers have to pay as high as INR 55 (NPR 88) per minute to receive any calls in Nepal. Similarly, to make calls back home India, one has to shell out INR 65 per minute (NPR 104). The maximum tourist traffic in Nepal is from India, as both the countries have a cordial relationship. Visa is not required for any Indian passport holder in Nepal. While any citizen of Nepal does not require a work permit to work in India.

In the process of earning money, operators loose a huge traffic which might come to their network if the charges are reduced, as a tourist either does not use the cellphone in Nepal or switches to a local number. If they want, they can bring down the calls and roaming rates anytime. UTL Nepal, the cheapest ISD service provider in the country does not offer roaming, as it has a CDMA network.

"It is purely a bilateral issue between the operators. There are no regulatory issues which come in the way of reducing the roaming tariff. I think the operators should take an initiative, and bring down the roaming tariff for betterment of the eocsystem," suggests Anand Raj Khanal, director & secretary, Nepal Telecom Regulatory Authority.

Business and cultural distance between India and Nepal is narrowing down since we are partners in progress. Operators-both in India and Nepal-must work at bringing down the roaming and ISD tariffs. This will boost business between the two countries.

Akhilesh Shukla
akhileshs@cybermedia.co.in

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