Apr 01, Kathmandu- The Asia Pacific Telecommunications Wireless Group (AWG) meeting began in the capital on Monday. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung inaugurated the meeting at Hotel Yak & Yeti in the capital.

The meeting, which will last until April 4, is being held for the first time in South Asia. Minister Gurung said that this meeting will be important for Nepal in terms of spectrum management and technology utilization. “Nepal has also expected necessary suggestions from the APT on frequency efficiency, launch of 5G services, satellite, IoT, spectrum efficiency and harmonization, and scientific use of spectrum,” he said.

Speaking at the event, APT Secretary General Masanori Kando said that the meeting will focus on the challenges of wireless communication. “Spectrum harmonization and digital connectivity are important issues for APT,” he said, “In addition, a separate workshop will be organized on 6G.”

Speaking at the event, Radhika Aryal, Secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, expressed confidence that the meeting will be an important platform to exchange on the challenges faced by countries in the region and the measures they are adopting to solve them. “Wireless communication is a very important issue for Nepal, also due to its geographical structure,” she said.

Secretary Aryal also said that the Nepal government is in the process of making timely amendments to the telecommunications policy, telecommunications act and digital Nepal framework to facilitate the adoption of new technologies.

Bhupendra Bhandari, chairman of the regulatory Nepal Telecommunication Authority, said that Nepal's mobile service providers are continuously losing revenue and discussed that the meeting is also an opportunity to learn from global experts to deal with it.

The meeting, which was organized by APT, is being jointly managed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Nepal Telecommunication Authority. The program, which is being run in a hybrid model, both physically and online, is being attended by 400 participants from more than 38 countries.