Nov 28, Kathmandu- The Patan High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by CG Communication Limited, a subsidiary of the Chaudhary Group, seeking to stop the cancellation of its license. With the court's dismissal of the writ petition, the possibility of CG's rural telecommunications service being resumed is gone.

After CG failed to submit the application and fee for renewal of the license within the stipulated time, the license was automatically cancelled in 2017. The regulator Nepal Telecommunication Authority had sent a letter to CG regarding the cancellation of the license as soon as it made a formal decision. CG had filed a writ petition against the same decision on 2017, making the authority the defendant.

On Tuesday, a joint bench of Justices Khadananda Tiwari and Bidur Koirala ruled in favor of the authority and dismissed CG's writ petition. According to Section 25 of the Telecommunications Act, the maximum period of a telecommunications service license is 25 years. Also, the act states that a license cannot be issued for more than 10 years at a time. There is a legal provision that a company must renew its license every 5 years after the first renewal in the tenth year.

CG renewed for the third time in 2075. According to Sub-rule 2 of Rule 12 of the Telecommunications Regulations, 2054, an application for renewal should be submitted to the Authority three months before the expiry of the license.

CG obtained a rural telecommunications services license from the Authority on 22 Mangsir 2060. The process for the fourth renewal should have been completed by 2080 Mangsir 2080, counting from the date the company submitted its ‘letter of credit’ on 16 Mangsir. Accordingly, CG should have submitted the application three months before Mangsir, i.e. by 2080 Ashwin. However, CG had submitted the application only on 22 Mangsir but had not paid the required fee.

According to Sub-section 5 of Section 25 of the Act, if the license is not renewed on time, it is automatically revoked. However, according to Section 28, if the authority revokes the license, a complaint can be filed with the Government of Nepal within 35 days. Accordingly, CG filed a case in court 6 months after the license was revoked, not with the government.

In order to start 5G service operation in Nepal, CG said that it has completed internal homework on matters such as RF planning, data center along with import of equipment and other services with a contract of US$ 100 million with Huawei.

Although CG took the initiative for basic telecommunications services, it was not able to get a license. The authority was of the opinion that it could not issue a basic license as it did not meet some of the conditions of rural telecommunications services. The authority has concluded that CG has not fulfilled its responsibility to renew the rural license to get a basic service license.