The Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA), the telecom regulatory body has asked the Nepal Telecom (NT) to promptly resolve the problem related with interconnection of cellphone network between NT and Spice Nepal Private Limited (SNPL), reports said.

The directive comes two days after Minister for Information and Communication (MoIC) Tanka Dhakal publicly urged NT to reach a negotiating point with SNPL as soon as possible.

Once the problem related with interconnection is resolved, subscribers of Mero Mobile would soon be able to make calls to and receive calls made from network of NT and other telecom service providers.

Reports quoted a source at NTA as saying that the instruction was issued as per the Article 31 of the Telecommunication Act. “NTA may be forced to initiate legal action against NT if it fails to obey the orders of the regulatory body,” he said.

Although SNPL, first private cell phone operator of the country, had commercially launched its services on September 17, it has not been able to gain access to NT’s network following disagreement over tariff rates of interconnection.

As per common practice, the service provider at the caller’s end has to pay a certain amount to the service provider at the receiving end for using the latter’s network.

The officials of the NT and SNPL are yet to sign final agreement on interconnection though they say that both the companies have reached a broad consensus on the rates.