Internet Society Nepal Chapter is organizing a panel discussion titled “Villages with Broadband and cities with telephone on demand-GON’s program on Telecommunication sector for the FY2068/69- prospects and challenges for implementation.on 6th September, 2011 AD [Bhadra 20, 2068 BS] in Kathmandu.
Background on the proposed panel discussion:
The government of Nepal through its programs and budget for the fiscal year 2068/69 has come up with a slogan-“Gaun gaun ma broadband Shahar ma telephone on demand [Villages with broadband and cities with telephone on demand.] The slogan sounds interesting and raises a number of questions about the status of telephone distribution capabilities of the telephone service providers in the cities while it also proposes to provide broadband facilities in the villages which is considered an ambitious program. In this extensive panel discussion the key stakeholders in the telephone and broadband value chain are invited to discuss on the prospects and challenges of the implementation of this program based on the slogan.
The key stakeholders who will be the panelists in the discussion are:
- Ministry of Information and Communications as the policy and program designer
- Nepal telecommunications Authority as the telecom sector regulator and the RTDF administrator
- Nepal Telecom as the incumbent and government operator for providing telephone on cities and planning to provide broadband services in the villages
- United Telecom Limited- telephone and Internet service provider
- Ncell Pvt. Ltd- as the mobile and mobile broadband service provider
- ISP Association of Nepal and major ISPs as the broadband Internet service providers
- Computer Association of Nepal as an IT promoter and lobbyist
Program Model
The program starts with some short speeches of the key persons-the minister/secretary of MoIC, MoST, the Chairman of NTA, the Managing Director of Nepal Telecom ,the President of ISPAN, the President of CAN and CEO/CTO of telecom operators.
The second part of the program will be an extensive panel discussion on the slogan. The panelist will comprise –the under secretary of Policy Planning Monitoring and Evaluation section of MoIC, the representative of NTA, the DMD planning department of NT, the representatives of Ncell , UTL, ISPAN etc.The representative of the ministry of information and communications will shed light on the slogan and the implementation arrangement that the government made during the formulation of the program and the slogan.
As the regulator and the RTDF fund administrator, the representative of the NTA will explain how this slogan is going to be implemented especially the village broadband. The incumbent operator and other operators along with ISPAN make presentation on the prospects and challenges for the implementation based on their own program for the FY. There will be questions and answer from the audience. Finally program will be concluded with key findings and recommendations, The outcome will be provided to the key stakeholders for their reference and action. The discussion will be moderated by a competent moderator appointed by ISOC Nepal Chapter.
Date and Venue:
Date: 6th September, 2011 [Bhadra 20, 2068 BS]
Time: 4:30 PM
Place: Annapurna Hotel, Durbarmarg