Country Experience on Work Items of Policy and Regulation Working Group

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Country Experience on Work Items of Policy and
Regulation Working Group

• Presented By
• Bijay Kumar Roy
• Deputy Director, Engineering (ICT Development)
• Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

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Identified Areas of Study

1. Adoption of Green Technologies and safety of
   wireless networks
2. Facilitation of Broadband in SATRC Countries
3. CIIP and Cyber Security
4. VoIP Issues

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1(a). Green Technology Nepals Perspective

• The Telecommunications Policy, 2004 has made the
  provision for Technology Neutral License and it
  is mentioned that the service provider may choose
  any telecommunication technology.
• It is also stated in the Policy that the
  equipment selected by the service provider for
  the technology shall be required to be
  internationally recognized (as per the
  international specification), advanced and field
  proved.

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1(b). Safety from Wireless Networks Nepals
Perspective

• NTA has published a consultation paper entitled
  Guidelines on Erection of Antenna Structures and
  Protection from Non - Ionizing Radiation from
  Radio Base stations with a view to adopt safety
  norms and precautions while erecting antenna
  structures, and to protect/ensure health and
  safety of the general public and occupational
  personnel as well as to maintain beauty of the
  city skylines.

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1(b). Safety from Wireless Networks Nepals
Perspective

• The Guideline makes it mandatory to take approval
  certificate from NTA before the erection of any
  Antenna Structure and states that all towers and
  associated structures, meant for
  telecommunications purposes and installed within
  the territory of Nepal, must comply with local
  safety and urban development requirements and
  adhere to this guideline.

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J.E. Moulders Study

• A research was conducted by Prof. J.E. Moulder
  from University of Wisconsin in some Canadian
  schools to evaluate exposure of mobile telephone
  radiation on children as children are more
  vulnerable to RF radiation than grown up people.

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Estimated Radiation near a Mobile Phone Base
Station (Measured by J.E. Moulder in 2004 at a
Canadian School)
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1(b). Safety from Wireless Networks Nepals
Perspective

• The ICNIRP guidelines declare the effect harmful
  only when a human being comes into direct path of
  an antenna radiating surface (mounted on top of
  the tower) within 3 meters (10 feet).
• Continuous exposure for a prolonged duration can
  cause harmful effects on human health. The effect
  reduces as distance increases and remains
  negligible at 8 meters (25 feet) and beyond.
• The level of radiation that is not harmful for
  human health due to the fact that such antennas
  are generally mounted on towers and rooftops more
  than 100 feet away from the road levels.

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2. Draft Broadband Policy of Nepal Major
Highlights

• Vision To transform Nepal into Information
  Society
• Mission Build and extend broadband
  infrastructure throughout Nepal
• Goal to make broadband internet penetration 15
  by 2015 and 30 by 2020
• Objectives
• (1) to develop and extend broadband technology
  infrastructure
• (2) to provide broadband services at affordable
  rate and with good quality
• (3) to interlink and strengthen the government
  agencies/departments for delivering e-government
  services
• (4) to raise public awareness to use ICT related
  services

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2. Draft Broadband Policy of Nepal Major
Highlights

• Broadband Definition
• Always ON Connection with Minimum upload and
  download speeds of 128 kbps and 256 kbps
• Strategies for the Implementation
• To build and extend of existing optical fiber
  backbone in 75 districts
• To raise awareness through ICT events
• To share the broadband infrastructure
• To provide e-government services
• Current Status
• Broadband internet penetration lt 3
• Broadband Technologies in use ADSL, Cable Modem,
  Optical fiber, V-Sat, WiFi, 3G

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3. CIIP and Cyber Security in the Context of
Nepal

• Nepal has promulgated The Electronic Transaction
  Act, 2063 ( December 8, 2006)
• To make legal provisions for authentication and
  regularization, validity, integrity and
  reliability of generation, production,
  processing, storage of electronic records
• Controller of Certification Authority (CCA) has
  been established
• Sometime there is dilemma in working between
  different entities say who regulates for content?

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4. VoIP Issues in the Context of Nepal

• In the present regulatory framework, IP Telephony
  has been categorized into two broad groups
  namely,
• VoIP (Voice Communication over Managed IP-based
  networks),
• Internet Telephony and
• IP telephony being defined as the transmission
  of voice signals over packet switched IP-based
  networks.

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4. VoIP Issues in the Context of Nepal (contd.)

• VoIP
• Allowed to ILD Operators (In Nepal all voice
  operators, fixed, mobile and rural operators have
  ILD gateways),
• No license fee required if it has ILD License
• Phone-to-Phone VoIP ( using E.164 numbering and
  Access Code)
• Need approval from Regulator before imposing
  tariffs to consumers

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VoIP (Phone-to-Phone Communication)
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VoIP QoS Benchmarking
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4. VoIP Issues in the Context of Nepal (contd.)

• Internet Telephony
• Internet Service Providers are allowed to provide
  Internet telephony which covers PC-to-PC voice
  (pure IP), PC-to-Phone (abroad) communications.
• ISPs are providing Internet Telephony using
  calling cards and ATAs to call abroad.
• No additional License required except ISP
• They also need to get tariff approval before
  imposing any rates to consumers.

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Internet Telephony (IP-to-IP)
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Internet Telephony (IP-to-Phone)
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4. Scenario after Opening up of VoIP and
Internet Telephony

• Even though, the Operators having ILD operators
  are allowed to use VoIP gateway, only recently
  few of the operator has announced such service
  publicly and therefore, the consumers were
  deprived of getting benefit from such
  technological advancements
• GoN, NTA and Telecom operators are facing
  challenges from VoIP call bypass resulting as not
  many of the ILD operators are making use of VoIP
  gateway.
• Similarly, ISPs are focused mainly for providing
  Internet Telephony calls abroad rather than
  within the country. This has created competition
  in ILD sector.
• Also, the people living in rural areas who have
  access to Internet are not able to make calls to
  PSTN/PLMN and are deprived from this benefit due
  regulatory restriction and this Has been a Great
  Issue.

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4. VoIP Issues in the Context of Nepal- Issues

• NTA has prepared a consultation paper for fully
  opening up of VoIP services
• Some of the issues in consultation were
• Should separate category of ITSP be created to
  make IP Telephony Calls to PSTN/PLMN network
  within the country and abroad?
• Should the number of Licenses for ITSP
  terminating to PSTN/PLMN be limited?
• What should be the License fee and/or Eligibility
  criteria? And so on.

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4. VoIP Issues in the Context of Nepal- Big
Concerns

• The Operators showed big concerns mainly one
  followings
• Issue of non-level playing field among various,
  since the ISPs and telecom operators have paid
  different license fee for providing differing
  services.
• The telcos claim that it is not justifiable to
  extend the scope of ISPs because a technology is
  available for providing different types of
  services.
• QoS, Security and Interconnection, the telcos
  does not agree to provide interconnection to ISPs
  and pointed out QoS, security as the major issues
  for consumers.

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VoIP Call bypass

• All of SATRC countries are facing VoIP call
  bypass as a big issue/problem
• Results huge revenue loss to the Operators as
  well as to the Government
• Operators are taking measures by blocking the
  Phone Numbers, Mobile Numbers (SIM box
  detections)
• Is there any permanent solution for this?

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SIM Box Detection
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VoIP Issues in the Context of Nepal - Way Forward

• NTA is planning for in-house discussions with
  concerned stakeholders and make seek expert
  advice
• The scenario in other SATRC countries like India,
  Sri Lanka is also similar
• SATRC member countries will be expecting very
  comprehensive recommendations from this Working
  Group.

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Telecom Statistics at a glance- Nepal (14 June,
2010)
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Telecom Statistics at a glance- Nepal (14 June,
2010)
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Thank you for your kind attention.

• Email bkroy_at_nta.gov.np
• URL www.nta.gov.np