Telecom & ISPs face Rs 300 million damage from disasters

KATHMANDU: Recent continuous rainfall has resulted in floods, landslides, and inundation, causing preliminary estimates of around Rs 300 million in damages for telecommunications and internet service providers.

According to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), a complete assessment of the damage incurred by internet service providers is still pending.

The two major telephone service providers, Nepal Telecom Company Limited (NTC) and Ncell Axiata Limited (Ncell), have suffered an estimated loss of about Rs 220 million.

Initial reports indicate that NTC has sustained damage of approximately Rs 150 million, while Ncell’s losses are estimated at around Rs 70 million.

Additionally, data collected from 15 internet service providers suggests that they have incurred losses totaling around Rs 75 million, as stated by Dr. Pradeep Paudyal, the assistant spokesperson for the NTA. He mentioned that further details on damages from internet service providers are still being compiled.

The disruption of electricity supply due to flooding, landslides, and lightning strikes has caused significant outages in telephone and internet services across many areas of the country. Dr. Paudyal stated that telecommunications services are gradually resuming as the electricity supply stabilizes.

He also informed that teams have been dispatched to affected areas where poles have fallen or wires have snapped, to expedite the restoration of services.

The authority remains vigilant to ensure that there are no interruptions in these essential services.