Nepal Telecom (NTC) is reportedly preparing to unbundle its crucial billing system tender, a controversial move that telecom engineers and former officials warn could compromise network stability and lead to a complete system collapse.
Under pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office—specifically Chief Personal Secretary Subash Sharma and IT Advisor Vivek Mishra—the proposal seeks to split the contract. Under this structure, NTC would handle the Online Charging System (OCS) and hardware procurement, while the Business Support System (BSS) would be finalized directly by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Severe technical risks and operational hazards
Technical experts have strongly advised against unbundling the Convergent Real-Time Billing System (CRBT) or OCS, describing it as the nervous system of any telecom operator. The billing apparatus exchanges vital data with the core network—including 5G cores, switching centers, and gateways—within microseconds.
A senior vendor engineer working with NTC warned that local software firms lack the proprietary protocols, intellectual property, and engineering scale needed to manage complex telecommunications infrastructure.
"If a domestic firm attempts to implement a custom billing architecture into NTC’s ecosystem, the entire network will inevitably collapse," the engineer cautioned. "With software and hardware split under different Service Level Agreements (SLAs), pinpointing faults during disruptions will become impossible, as both vendors will shift blame to each other."
Former NTC executives echoed these concerns, emphasizing that billing requires international standards and coding parameters that local IT vendors cannot meet. They urged NTC to procure reliable, Gartner-listed systems rather than compromising on core infrastructure.
Timeline of the billing tender controversy
The urgency to resolve the issue stems from the upcoming expiration of NTC’s current billing contract with AsiaInfo in September 2027. Legal constraints prevent further extensions, making a new procurement essential.
However, the Rs 5 billion tender process has been plagued by legal, political, and operational hurdles. On September 10, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a directive ordering NTC to ensure fair competition, avoid conflicts of interest, and mitigate security risks associated with sharing single suppliers for both core network and billing systems.
NTC issued an international bid on March 18, 2025, in which Huawei and Whale Cloud submitted proposals. By August 31, 2025, Huawei was declared the sole technically qualified bidder. Following public protests and a change in government, newly appointed Communications Minister Jagdish Kharel suspended the financial bid opening in September 2025 and formed a seven-member study committee. Consequently, NTC officially canceled the disputed tender on January 16, 2026.
Legal clearances and current status
The regulatory landscape recently shifted following a major ruling by the Special Court regarding NTC's existing maintenance contracts. On July 9, 2026, the court acquitted 18 officials—including former Managing Director Sunil Paudel—over corruption charges previously filed by the CIAA regarding AsiaInfo’s Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC).
Following the acquittal, suspended Managing Director Sangeeta Pahadi Aryal was reinstated. Despite this resolution, NTC has yet to publish a fresh, unified tender, leaving the future of its billing infrastructure uncertain.
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