TAKING STOCK:Telecom: Open it up What happens when you try to make a call from your ‘mobile’? ‘Network busy’ or ‘connection error’ is the likely response. Why? You might get a technical answer from Nepal Telecomm (NT), but, what I hear from them is that there are too many calls leading to circuit congestion. How is that we do not encounter such problems in most other parts of the world? Does Nepal have more people using mobile phones than India, the US, Europe, or China? There are more of these phones being used in Manhattan in New York, or on a few streets of New Delhi than in whole of this country. Why then does NT have problems? Could it be because in other countries services are provided by competing private companies, which look upon high demand as on opportunity to profit from, rather than as an excuse for not granting the service every customer is entitled to? Have you ever heard of privately run hotels, restaurants, department stores, or casinos complaining of too many customers? No, even the world’s biggest car company, General Motors, desperately seeks more customers and markets. It is only in government that too many customers are a problem. After years of waiting, the consumers did finally have choice. Permission was granted to UTL and then Mero Mobile. Did it really have to take ages for the Nepali consumer to have service providers other than NT to choose from? No. Many private companies have been pleading with the government for over a decade, “give us a chance and we will provide Nepal with the world’s best telecommunication network”. The government has turned a deaf ear to all such pleas; the applications for licences gather dust in government ministries. It is not that the government has to do anything. Government does not have to provide the capital, manpower, or other resources. Private — for profit — companies will do all that is required. The government does have to get out of the way. Is it really that easy? Yes and no. Yes, because all that is required of the government is to set the facilitating rules, and let phone companies from all around the world fight for the patronage of the Nepali consumer. No, because the vested interests, the NT Unions and officials will fight against any liberalisation, which takes away their monopoly. What prevents the Nepali people from getting world–class communication facilities is an entrenched and inefficient government monopoly. That is all. We, as consumers, have to realise that the interests of a government organisation are different from what is in the interests of a country. For the benefit of NT, Nepal’s future cannot, and, must not be mortgaged. NT employees looks at consumers as someone to be exploited, someone to get personal benefits from, and, not as an opportunity for their organisation. This attitude is not unique to NT. Even in the US, where government organisations have a monopoly, the attitude of workers is the same. I am reminded of an incident in the US. When I went to a government post office during the Christmas rush, there were long waiting lines, and customers were being considered little other than as a nuisance to be dealt with. Next door a private for profit courier company welcomed its customers, including me, with smiles and offered complementary coffee. Be it the US or Nepal, government organisation regard customers as an interruption of their teatime while private companies share tea with theirs. Even when we want nothing from the government — for example when we go to the income tax office to pay taxes — we still have to wait in lines. In most cities of the US, cars line up across several blocks when the deadline approaches for filing annual tax returns. Clearly the business of government is not to run a business. The government must divest itself of all assets, including abrogating its telecom monopoly. Do this and do it fast. We, the people will be grateful. The government will not need to find resources to fund NT’s growth and will be better able to fund what it really should be doing: maintaining rule of law, providing secure property rights etc to its people even as it collects taxes from private telecom providers. (The writer can be contacted: everest@mos.com.np)