Regional Profiles - Nepal

ICT Developments	ICT Policy
Email subscription growth ~150% per year (1995–2002) 22 ISPs Teledensity 1.4% (2003), expected to increase to 15% by 2017 Six VSATs, eight radio paging service provider - ~50% of 3,914 Village Development Commissions (VDCs) have telephones (Feb, 2002) Fibre optic network planned 70,000 mobile subscribers (mid-2003)—low due to high cost	Ministry of Science and Technology High Level Commission for Information Technology National Communication Policy, 1992 - 15 strategies National Strategy Paper on ICT (National Planning Commission) Telecommunications Policy, 1999 IT Policy, 2000 BOT emphasized (permitted FDI up to 80% stake) Currently Telecom policy being revised to suit expansion of ICT applications and industry

WTO Issues	Regulatory Frameworks
Member since 2004 Desire to have equal access to markets outside Submissions to WTO: Schedule on tariff concession Schedule on commitments in services Legislative action plan Action plan on customs valuation, trade-related aspects of IPR Market expected to be liberalized by 2004	Telecommunication Regulations Act, 1997 Nepal Telecommunication Authority manages and regulates telecom services Electronic Transaction and Digital Signature Act (ETADSA), 2057 (Nepali year) Copyright Act, 2059(Nepali year) No regulations yet on content

Last modified 2005-06-24 04:55 PM