May 10, Kathmandu- Nepal Telecom has received a new license for five years.

The meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Thursday directed the Nepal Telecommunication Authority to re-issue the license to Telecom, which has been providing GSM cellular mobile services.

In the decision of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, it was said, 'For the purpose of regularizing the telecommunication services, to use the authority of Section 20 of the Telecommunications Act, 2053 to instruct the Nepal Telecommunication Authority to re-issue the license to Nepal Telecommunication Company Limited in accordance with Subsection 4 of Section 33 of the same Act.'

In the said sub-section, there is a provision that the person who obtained the previous license can operate the telecommunications service with up to 50 percent of the total capital investment by a foreign person or organized organization after the expiry of the operating license.

According to Santosh Paudel, spokesperson of the authority, Nepal Telecom was granted a new license on Friday.

The 25-year license of Nepal Telecom had expired on Thursday. Paudel, the spokesperson of the authority, also said that Telecom has paid a fee of 21 million rupees for the new license.

Before this, Nepal Telecom had taken the license for GMM service in 2056.