By Our Reporter

Recently, Elon Musk held a video meeting with Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. Since then, it has been speculated that Musk is trying to enter into the Internet market in Nepal by introducing the Starlink Internet service.

Starlink is an advanced and super fast internet provider American company owned by the richest American businessman and close aide of President-elect Donald Trump, therefore, Musk is considered to be the most influential businessman now.  

The Nepali people are talking about enjoying fast internet service at a low price, which is human behaviour.

Details about the talks between Musk and PM Oli have not been made public but speculations are there that Musk, a businessman, could have tried to introduce the Starlink in the Nepali market.

Musk’s proposal to introduce Starlink in India has not been accepted by the Modi-led government. Accordingly, there is no question about China allowing Starlink there. The Modi-led government is concerned about its security on whether Starlink, a powerful internet provider, would be used to spy in India.

Oli is a whimsical person and he is known for making decisions without studying the possible impact of his work. If Oli gave a green signal, it could be a blunder as both India and China would object to the decision given the security reasons.

Nepal is a country where decisions are being imposed by political leaders undermining the government's rules and regulations. However, those officials associated with the Nepali Telecommunications sector say, “There is no possibility of Starling providing Internet service to Nepal in the near future,” Janaaastha vernacular weekly has reported.

According to the Weekly, one official in the Communications Ministry also said that no bureaucratic process has been started until now. So far, Musk and his men have reached out to the Nepal government.

Our two neighboring countries, India and China, have not established relations with Starlink.

As the two neighbors have not accepted the service from the Starlink, Nepal should not move one step ahead to get the Starlink service. The main reason is the security challenges and sensitivity. Even if Nepal approaches Starlink for starting its service in the country, it will be a blunder as India and China have expressed security concerns about Starlink, said the official in the Communications Ministry.

The Weekly adds: so far if we bring Starlink to Nepal, companies involved in internet business in Nepal will be closed. Not only a huge amount of investment made by the internet provider companies will have to face a risk and around 10 thousand Nepalis will lose direct and indirect employment. Currently, there are 3900 employees with Nepal Telecom and also Ncell has around one thousand employees. Besides, different companies providing Internet services have also employed a large number of people. If the Starlink will start its business in Nepal, it can be operated with a small team of manpower. However, a huge amount of money the nation should pay to Starlink against receiving its service without the employment of Nepali manpower. Starlink is based on high-tech and is concentrated on increasing its business without using local manpower.

Meanwhile, we have already seen the capability of the Nepal government from the nationalization process of the Smart Telecom after the government suspended the license, it could not manage the human resources used in the Telecom.

If a new technology is imported, the entire structure of the old technology will be destroyed. Currently, Nepal Telecom and Ncell are losing their profit and also are unable to introduce new technology. Last year, Nepal Telecom distributed 40% bonus to its shareholders, this year, it has been reduced to 30% only. Last year, Ncell had a business worth 40 billion rupees, now it has shrunk to 6/7 billion rupees.

Ncell is learnt to have discussed the decreasing business and asked the government to facilitate the license for above five years so that it could introduce 5G service and provide internet service at low prices like in India.

Nepal Telecom has not been able to make itself strong in the competitive market by providing services at affordable prices. A high-level employee of Nepal Telecom said, "Actually, we are not able to do it." There is no obligation to make a large investment. If the service can be made efficient, the telephone and internet service of Nepal Telecom can be the choice of the common consumer. However, being weaker in service and management than the private sector, telecom is now forced to make less every year."