1. Nepal’s ICT scenario Prospects and challenges Er. Ganesh Shah Minister, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology mingshah@most.gov.np shahganesh@gmail.com

2. Presentation highlights  Current situation – Indicators, footprint  Why policy emphasis on ICTs?  Challenges from policy perspective  Common observation  Way forward

3. Indicators  Fixed line telephone 5,24,443  Mobile Telephone 25,00,124  Service Penetration (1 in 100 population): – Fixed + Mobile 12.45 – Fixed: 2.29% – Internet (subscribers only).28  VSAT user 110  International Internet Bandwidth per inhabitant 6.59 kbps  Internet access tariff (20 hours per month), in US$, and as a percentage of per capita income US$10.57, 3.92%

4. Prospects: why policy emphasis on ICTs?  ICTs have potential to promote, – Inclusive/ participatory governance – Facebook, blogs?? – Transparent and accountable governance – e-Governance project

5. – Favorable Policy outcomes – Health, education, agricultural services – ICT sector as an economic sector – Export potential, employment generation – India more than 40Bn USD turnover- IT/BPO sector – Nepal can always expect for a modest share of global outsourcing pie

6. Challenges from policy perspective – Dynamism of the sector – Fast evolving technology with policy implications – Example, spectrum management challenges, VoIP – Cross-cutting nature of ICTs – Need to orient sectoral agencies to adopt IT strategies – Infrastructural challenges – Bandwidth availability and costs – Power situation (load shedding)

7. 7 G2C Government portal, NID (2)‏ Groupware, e-Education (2)‏ Phase 1 (7)‏ EA, GIDC, (PKI), Comm. Network (3)‏ NID, e-Health, Passport, e- Vehicle, Government portal, Driver license, e-Agriculture (7)‏ e-Procurement, e-Customs, BRAMS, e-Commerce (4)‏ e-Tax, Immigration, e- Education, e-Land, e-MIS, Groupware, e-Pollution, e- Authentication, KMS, GIS (10)‏ EA, Comm. Network, GIDC, Public Key Infrastructure (4)‏ G2BG2GInfra 1 st Evaluation NID, e-Health, Passport, e-Post, Government Portal, Social Insurance, e-Pension, e- Vehicle, e-Election, Driver license, e-Petition, e-Agriculture (12)‏ Recruitment and Employment Information System, e- Procurement, e-Customs, e- Patent, e-Tourism, BRAMS, e- Commerce (7)‏ e-Tax, Immigration, e- Education, e-Land, e- Authentication, Groupware (6)‏ EA, Comm. Network, GIDC, PKI (4)‏ Project (33)‏ Project (21)‏ 2 nd Evaluation Phase 2 (13)‏ e-Health, Passport, e- Vehicle, Driver license, e-Agriculture (5)‏ e-Procurement, BRAMS, e-Customs, e-Commerce (4)‏ e-Tax, Immigration, e- Land, e-Authentication (4)‏ (0)‏ Citizen centered On-line public service Diversification of service channel Transparent One-stop public service Opening admin. Information and process Networked Computerization and Integration Standardization Improving ICT resource ICT based facility Strategy eGMP Project Framework Priority Evaluation

8. Way forward  Revised IT Policy and work plan with more articulated policy provisions  Focus in implementation – Implementation of IT policy has so far remained very weak  Emphasis on action research that could be scaled up to full-fledged projects – e-Education, telemedicine, e-Agriculture….

9.  Intensive engagement with the private sector – Strategy for developing IT services and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) sector – Operational zing the IT Park – Working collaboratively to ease difficulties  Streamline/ fine-tune institutional arrangement – Overlapping functional areas – Intra/ inter-organizational challenges  Effective implementation of e-Governance  Facilitating rural-urban linkages

10. THANK YOU