The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Nepal Telecom (NT) to install the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system with which NT plans to launch the Wireless Local Loop (WLL) telephone service in the country.

On July 11, the apex court had issued a stay order barring the NT from installing the CDMA system.

A division bench of Justices Badri Kumar Basnet and Top Bahadur Magar quashed the writ petitions seeking the apex court order to bar the NT from installing the system. “There is no ground to issue order as sought by the writ petitioners,” the bench ruled while pronouncing the verdict.

The NT told the SC that the company plans to distribute over one million wireless local lines across the country after installation of the CDMA system.

According to NT, around 250,000 phone lines will be made available in Kathmandu, Narayani zone, Janakpur, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Pokhara and Dhangadhi in the first phase. Around 50,000 lines will be available in the capital alone. The total demand of phones in the capital is estimated at 100,000 while the total demand of phones across the country is around 400,000.

Advocates Bishnu Prasad Dhakal, Arjun Prasad Uprety and a businessman Sanjeev Parajuli had filed petitions raising questions over the process of acquiring permission from the government to install the system.

While issuing the stay order, the SC had raised serious doubts over the payment of tax by the NT while getting permission to launch the CDMA.

The petitioners had claimed that it was improper to provide authority to the NT without issuing a tender notice to provide a chance for every Nepali citizen to bid for the programme.

The CDMA telephone service is based on the latest wireless technology. Besides, the technology is expected to make telephone network expansion cost effective and time saving. The technology is said be suitable for Nepal’s geographical terrain where wire telephone services is a difficult proposition.