Nepal faced a nationwide internet outage on Sunday evening from 8:00 PM, disrupting online services for millions of users. The outage was triggered after the government failed to clear a pending payment of over NPR 600 million to Indian company Airtel for internet bandwidth over the past two years.
According to Sudhir Parajuli, President of the Internet Service Provider Association of Nepal (ISPAN), the outage lasted for approximately two hours after Airtel’s service went down, affecting major internet service providers (ISPs) including Worldlink, CG, DishHome, Subisu, and Vinet, among others.
“We have continuously urged the government to resolve the payment issue, but it has been ignored for two years,” says Parajuli to Onlinekhabar. “This delay has led to frustration on Airtel’s part, causing them to disrupt the internet supply. We are helpless in this situation.”
Parajuli further explains that despite repeated requests, the government has failed to facilitate the required payment process. The amount remains stuck in banks due to a lack of official recommendation from the government.
“If the government continues to delay payments for essential services like internet bandwidth, Nepal will face even more severe consequences in the future,” he warns.
