Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) is planning to monitor billing system of telecom service providers — Nepal Telecom, Ncell and UTL — and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to check whether they are implementing approved tariffs for their different services or not.
“The authority has started monitoring the billing system after receiving formal and informal complaints from the consumers,” NTA chairman Bhesh Raj Kanel said.
“We received complaints from consumers that telecom service providers and some ISPs’ billing system is not maintained transparently,” he said, adding that the authority has yesterday directed its Monitoring Unit to check billing system strictly.
The authority has deputed Bijay Kumar Roy, Arjun Ghimire and Sandeep Adhikari to monitor billing system of the service providers.
Right to Information campaigner Taranath Dahal also today lodged an complaint at the authority seeking detailed of billing system of internet services of the telecom service providers.
“It is heard that telecom service providers are charging rampant internet service charges taking advantage of consumers’ lack of awareness on the technical part,” Dahal said, adding that the authority should monitor billing system of them to safeguard consumers’ rights.
In the complaint, he has also asked the authority to provide information whether telecom service providers have been connecting their different schemes in the internet service devices without informing consumers or not.
Dahal also demanded to publish the latest monitoring report of the regulator on billing system and detailed report on actions taken against them, if the authority discovered any irregularities.
“The authority has taken the issue seriously,” NTA spokesperson Kailash Prasad Neupane said, adding that it will take stringent action against service providers, if they are found guilty.