Saturday, June 1, 2019

Nepal Telecom Authority to set up IT centres in 124 remote villages

The Nepal Telecommunications Authority is setting up IT service centres at 124 remote villages to provide integrated government services, in line with the government’s ambitious Digital Nepal Framework-2018 that envisions a ‘digital society’ with 90 per cent of the population having access to broadband services by 2020.
The Information Service Centre Formation and Management Work plan – prepared by the authority –plans to install four computers, printing machines and networking equipment and expand broadband facilities from those centres to wards, health centres and community schools.
The information centre project has been launched to combat digital exclusion in 124 rural municipalities, which has no access to telecommunications facilities as of date.
According to acting chairman of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority Purushottam Khanal, the regulator is starting a tender process for procurement of equipment within a month. The authority has estimated that it will take around Rs 90.52 million to procure equipment to establish those centres. “The authority plans to mobilise funds collected by levying telecom operators service charges amounting to 2 per cent of their gross income to execute the project,” he added. “Almost half of the shortlisted local levels are located in the western provinces of Karnali (26) and Sudurpashchim (28), in line with the by-laws which state that the authority must give special priority to rural communities without access to internet and with measurable presence of marginalised and economically backward denizens.

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