Kathmandu. In the first part of Ncell’s ‘Loot’ series, we explained how the company tried to cause huge revenue loss to the state by showing that it was sold to companies worth billions of rupees for just Rs 6.5 billion with the clear intention of evading tax. The report of the government probe committee had concluded that the company that paid more than Rs 12 billion in revenue annually had hidden the real business and deprived the state of tax worth billions of rupees.
Today, we present ‘Ncell’s Loot – Part 2’ under ‘Operation Ncell’, where we have been exposing the fact that the company has for years been ignoring regulatory directives, misinterpreting laws and taking money out of consumers’ pockets.
The report of the probe committee formed by the then government has raised serious questions on the working style of Ncell. According to the report, the company has repeatedly disobeyed the directives of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority, misinterpreted the legal provisions and charged extra money from the consumers, and took regulatory action as normal.
The committee has raised a particularly serious question – when it is found that only a few thousand or a few lakhs of rupees have been fined to a company that has illegally collected crores of rupees.
Operation of service without permission, mockery of law through ‘recharge and win’
Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) had ordered the company to shut down its service by fining it Rs 500,000 under the Telecommunications Act, 2053 after Ncell was found operating the service through SIP Connectivity without taking the required permission. But since the company had already earned millions of rupees from the service, the fine of five lakh rupees was limited to formal action rather than an effective penalty.
After this, the company operated a scheme called ‘Recharge and Win’, which the regulatory body concluded was against the prevailing law. The authority ordered the immediate closure of the project, but no further action was taken.
The incident sent a clear message to the company — breaking the law doesn’t have to pay a heavy price. After the complaint of irregularities in the rate of data service, the authority also fined Ncell Rs 50,000 and warned it to comply with the regulatory directives in the future.
But when comparing the amount collected from consumers and the size of the fines, the regulator’s action seems to be very weak.
Similarly, the company was again fined Rs 5 lakh after it was found operating Value Added Service (VAS) like Love Detector and Magic Voice without the necessary approval. But such a fine was not a matter of fear for the company with a turnover of crores. Violation of license conditions, robbery in the pocket of consumers through Auto Renew
Ncell had to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh again as per the Telecommunications Act after it was found violating the conditions mentioned in the license. However, repeated mistakes of the same nature over and over again and action is always low, which seems to have further encouraged the company.
One of the most controversial cases against Ncell was the auto renewal system installed in the VAS service. The company had collected money from millions of consumers by making a provision that the service would be automatically renewed without the explicit consent of the customer.
Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) had instructed to immediately stop such provision, renew the service only after taking prior approval of the customer and return the amount collected. The company was fined Rs 50,000 for not complying with the directive.
During the investigation, it was found that Ncell had collected Rs 1,11,26,754.84 illegally. The amount was ordered to be returned to the concerned customer within three months.
However, the company that raised crores of rupees illegally was eventually limited to a fine of Rs 50,000.
Action was being taken, the mischief did not stop!
These are just a few of the instances mentioned by the Government Inquiry Committee at the time. Since then, Ncell has been taking action from the regulator at various times.
The tendency to take action against one mistake leads to repetition of another, new disputes arise after directives and another violation after fine, which has raised questions about the company’s regulatory culture. Questions are being raised whether effective monitoring and strict action against Ncell, which was repeatedly dragged into controversies on the basis of political reach, power and influence in the past.
Can the present government, formed with the direct mandate of the people, end the anomalies that have taken root in the telecommunication sector for many years? Can a company that has not been reformed even after repeated action be brought under the purview of law?
