Feb 04, Kathmandu- The impact of the continuous contraction in the income of telecom service providers has been seen in their capital expenditure. Along with the declining income, the impact of the reduced budget allocation for infrastructure construction has been seen in the expansion and upgrading of services and quality service delivery. In addition, experts say that the future of the companies does not look good.

Telecom companies, which once spent nearly half of their total revenue on infrastructure development, have now limited that spending to around 10 percent. Telecom experts believe that telecoms are hesitant to make the necessary investments in infrastructure due to declining revenue due to over-the-top (OTT) platforms, lack of necessary legislative amendments, high renewal fees, and lack of operational facilitation.

Looking at the data, it seems that telecom companies emphasized capital expenditure between 2008 and 2016. Experts say that this period can be called 'hyper growth' in terms of capital expenditure. Bheshraj Kandel, former chairman of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority, said that it was a time of investment for telecom companies. The capital expenditure situation was good until 2017. After that, he believes that the required capital expenditure also started decreasing along with income.