Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July 2012 ICT Promotion and Standardization Challenges for Nepal Babu Ram Dawadi Asst. Director Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) ITU Workshop on Bridging the Standardization Gap (Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July 2012)

Outline Nepal-Brief Existing ICT Policies/Acts ICT promotion/standardization Activities Collaboration with ITU for ICT Enhancement Issues and Challenges for Nepal Conclusion and Recommendations Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

3 Nepal Mt. Everest, peak of the world

Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July (src: cbs.gov.np, 2011) Area: 147,181 sq. km. Demographics Population Distribution Population: 26.7 Million

Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Demographics …1 Social Indicator ( src:cbs.gov.np, 2011/12 ) Per Capita GNI: USD 742 Population having access to Electricity: 43.9% Literacy Rate (5yrs and Above) Male: 74.7% Female: 53.3% Human Development Index ( UNDP Rep ): Rank157 Total no of Villages: 3915 Villages served by Telephone Service: 3915 (100%) More than 92 local languages More than 101 castes.

src: NTA MIS, may 2012, Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Nepal: Telecom Status Tele-Density Penetration Growth

ICT standardization Need Reduce the policy gap between developed and developing countries. Reduces digital divide (technology gap between developed and developing countries) Brings services of developing countries into global standards with proper harmonization Creates global competitive and regulatory environment Needs of Developing Countries Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Existing Government Acts, Policies, Regulation... for ICT Standardization/Enhancement in Nepal Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

9 Nepal Government Acts, Policies Telecommunications Act, 1997 Focused over standards Authority shall define the quality and standards of the machine, equipment and facilities telecommunications and its service. The authority shall prescribe the minimum standard to be maintained by a licensee in operating the telecommunications service.

Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Nepal Government Acts …1 Telecom Policy 2004, strategies Universal Access to telecommunications service Liberalization of telecommunications sector But limited to available spectrum Open licensing regime Enter into information society Encourage the private sector participation.

Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Nepal Government Acts …2 Long term policy on information and communication sector Socioeconomic Infrastructure development Effective frequency management Human capacity building in telecom sector. Information Technology Policy-2010 Vision: establish Nepal in the map of world information technology by developing knowledge base society. Internet access to school/community, e- governance, broadband data network.

Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Nepal Government Acts …3 Electronic Transaction Act-2008 and Electronic Transaction Rule-2010 Provisioning of E-Records management and generating secure digital signature E-Government Master Plan-2006 Establishes the vision, strategy and framework for Nepals e-governance Defines direction of the executing organization, and restructuring legal framework.

Government Involvement/initiatives in ICT promotion/standardization Collaboration with ITU (Research, Standardization for Nepal) Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Government/NTA Initiatives Within recent few years NTA has carried out several mission projects for ICT standardization within the country by taking fruitful assistants from ITU. Regulatory guidelines on broadband through universal service (ITU mission project-2011) Strategies and policy framework proposed. Recommended suitable administrative framework for the disbursement of Rural Telecom Development Fund (RTDF). IPTV/IPCDMA project for Nepal Telecom Assisting by ITU to standardize Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Government/NTA Initiatives …1 M-Health country needs assessment and feasibility study (ITU Mission, 2011). Role of ICT in improving healthcare deliveries by sharing the experiences and best practices. Identify critical national health priorities and its needs. The report has been forwarded to Ministry of Health (MoH), with the interest that NTA can take initiatives for pilot project based on the recommendation, collaborating with MoH. Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Government/NTA Initiatives …2 Wireless Broadband Master Plan (ITU Mission, 2012) Government focus on infrastructure sharing => countys need Recommendations: Legal/regulatory framework reform in telecom sector. Unified licensing regime (recently being introduced by the government). Effective spectrum regulation and pricing framework. (3yrs interim plan recommended to the government) ICT Accessibilities for Persons with Disabilities (ITU Mission, Nov. 2012, going to be commenced soon) Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

ICT Promotion/Standardization Activities SASEC Information Highway project in the bidding process. ( bid notice published: moic.gov.np ) District Optical Fiber Network Project (utilizing RTDF) => Standardization process in line with ITU Standards Tele-center Project 58 centers of 26 districts Established multipurpose common service centers (as pilot project) at three villages of Lamjung district in (PPP model). Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

ICT Promotion/Standardization …1 Reviewing/Standardizing National Numbering Plan Initiated Research to develop Standards for Interconnection to suite into converged network environment. Infrastructure Sharing guideline finalizing. Directives for laying and maintaining optical fiber cable across the country=> guideline standardized and issued Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

ICT Promotion/Standardization …2 National Emergency Telecommunication Plan (NETP)=>under consultation Service Study of health hazards due to wireless communication => under consultation service EIR implementation and Genuine IMEI verification: processed National Broadband Plan: almost finalized Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

ICT Promotion/Standardization …3 Type Approval Working Procedure of Customer Premises Radio Telecommunication Equipments (TAP-02)=>issued Guideline for Analysis and Design of Telecom. Tower, Earthquake/Disaster Risk Assessment of BTS Towers and Vulnerability Assessment => under consultation service ICT policy consultation project (MoIC Leading) for Nepal assisting by KISDI and KCC. Study on Regulatory Framework in response to the Convergence of Telecommunications and Broadcasting for Nepal Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Img src: Talking with son at Qatar from rural Nepal Img Src:

Policy Issues Different policies in ICT with the involvement of different ministries. Policy harmonization required Legacy Policy Convergence approach have to be adopted Telecommunications, broadcasting, content management Different licensing regime (basic-PSTN, mobile, limited mobility, internet service) Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Policy Issues …1 Lack of clear policy with vision of work Content management and content filtering issues. ccTLD.NP domain administration/management and regulation not yet under govt. framework. Cyber Security issues (formation of NP- CERT/CIRT), its management and operation issues Conflict of Interest among organizations MoIC/MoEST/NTA => major policy formulating organizations Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Policy Issues (QoS) …1 Standardization of Quality of Service (QoS) parameters for Basic, wireless and internet service by NTA on Operators Quality of Service (QoS) Last two years quality measurement of bigger operators (NTC, NCELL & UTL) Not a Satisfactory Result Mobile BTS concept, thinking by Nepalese Operator(s) Not yet standardized and practiced by ITU QoS cant be compromised hence implication on QoS by this approach has to be analyzed. Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Policy Issues (QoS/Interconnection) …2 Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Low QoS, Determining factors for Nepal Network capacity planning and optimization Coverage/Terrains Frequency Allocation/Planning End-user mobile device performance (device quality) Power ( load-shedding) problem (avg. blackout 35hrs/week throughout the year) Unplanned Urbanization Interconnection Issues Lack of proper policy/guideline for IP based network interconnection (VoIP, NGN..)

Type Approval issues Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Type approval procedure for radio telecommunication equipments for customer premises equipment Preferable for the accreditation of regional lab for type approval decrease the cost of testing of the equipment in each and every country removes the duplication of work. address the well equipped lab facilities as an important resource which is not available especially in the developing countries like Nepal (NTA study in SATRC working group)

Conclusion & Recommendations Policy and Standardization GAP Converge Licensing Framework required Countrys political condition needs to be stable Unstable Power (avg. 35Hrs/week load shading) needs to set in priority Lack of E-Government Policy Slow pace of Infrastructure deployment Low Education and literacy rate High broadband price, should be reviewed ICT promotion challenges for Nepal Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Conclusion & Recommendations …1 Lack of policy for Local content development and management. Lack of coordination among government ministries/organization and prioritization of sectors Rural Tele-centers: sustainability problem ICT Promotion Challenges...1 QoS parameters of new technologies (eg: 3G, LTE, WiMAX..), have to standardize QoS Parameters of VoIP services, have to standardize Standardization Challenges Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Conclusion & Recommendations …1 IPv6 Network migration (deployment) India, China, Malaysia and other countries have Policy Framework with National Roadmap => already planned to deploy Nepal is still IDLE, NO policy framework, strategy and migration plan have been initiated Regional lab for type approval, Regional Accreditation. capacity Building (Researcher) on standardization sector Policy Enforcement Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Recommended Assistantship Expected-2013 Feasibility study to divide Nepal in to two telecom circles for allocating cellular spectrum. Expected o/p: feasibility of two Telecom circle for spectrum Revise/Standardize QoS parameters including new technologies (LTE, 3G, VoIP) for NTA Expected o/p: Updated quality benchmarks with QoS parameters Review of Telecom tariff guidelines for Nepal Telecommunications Authority Expected o/p: Updated tariff guidelines Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July

Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, July Thank You!