By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Nov. 25: The physical progress of broadband internet connection project, launched under the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF), has reached 69.37 per cent by the mid-October.
The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), the regulator, has stated that broadband internet connection in 11,086 sites have been completed until the review period.
Making public the progress report till mid-October, the NTA has stated that internet connection was yet to be established in 4,896 sites.
Under the project, the NTA is connecting broadband internet to a total of 15,982 sites, including local body offices, ward offices, secondary schools and health institutions.
The financial progress of the broadband internet connection project has reached 47.79 per cent by mid-October. The NTA has paid Rs. 2.71 billion to the project construction service providers till mid-October from the RTDF. The total contract amount of this project is Rs. 5.67 billion.
Similarly, the work on Information Highway, another ambitious project of NTA to lay optical fibers along Mid-Hill Highway and district headquarters utilising RTDF, is progressing only in packages 1 and 3.
Nepal Telecom (NT) is conducting the works of Information Highway in States 1, 2 and Bagmati under Package 1 as well as in Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces under Package 3. There has not been any progress in works under Package 2 (Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces) due to a dispute between contractor and the NTA -- a case that has been pending in Supreme Court.
According to NTA, the work of laying 340 kilometers of optical fiber in Package 1 has been completed by mid-October. NT has laid 32 kilometers of optical fiber in a month.
There has been little progress in the work of the Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing System (DWDM) and its commissioning. As per the agreement, the distance of optical fiber is 2,083 km in package 1 and 2,160 km in package 2 and 1,92 km in package 3.
According to NTA, fiber laying is being done only in package 1. The progress of fiber laying work in Package 1 has reached 15.60 per cent.
The agreement amount of Information Highway is Rs. 9.89 billion. According to NEA, only Rs. 615.5 million has been paid in advance for Package 1 and Rs 128 million in customs duty till mid-November. The authority has paid Rs. 402 million in advance for package two.