Kathmandu, February 2
The government has not received any official communication from Ncell regarding the Malaysian telecom giant Axiata’s plan to buy controlling stake in Ncell.
Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, secertary at the Minstry of Communication and Information, told members of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that the deal between TeliaSonera, which has a controlling stake in Ncell and Axiata, took place without prior government approval.
He said that such a deal could not be completed without approval from Nepal Telecommunications Authority.
Thapaliya said that the authority can only approve such a deal after receving nods from the Department of Inland Revenue and Office of the Company Registrar.
According to officials, Axiata had written to the department about the issue, but the department is yet to decide as it is ‘studying’ similar cases in India. TeliaSonera had agreed to sell its 60.4 per cent ownership in the Nepali operator Ncell to Axiata, one of Asia’s largest telecommunication groups, for $1,030 million on a cash and debt free basis. At the same time, TeliaSonera will dissolve its economic interests in the 20 per cent local ownership and receives approximately $48 million. The transactions are conditional on each other.
The announcement of the deal has been shrouded in controversy after it emerged that the Nepal government was not going to receive any revenue from the multi-million dollar deal.
