KATHMANDU:  National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice Chair, Prof Dr Shiva Raj Adhikari, has stressed the need of more clarity regarding the distribution of royalty from radio frequencies under the natural resources.

In his address to a discussion programme on the allocations of royalty from radio frequencies organised by the Society of Economic Journalists-Nepal (SEJON), he insisted on additional clarity on the matter.

“It is warranted to be clear first either it is royalty or fee to be collected from use of natural resources,” he said.
The National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission’s member Juddha Bahadur Gurung said the Commission has already submitted its report with recommendations regarding the allocations of royalty of radio frequencies to the government. The recommendations were based on the Constitutional provisions.

The Commission’s criteria for the distribution of royalty is 30 per cent geographical area of provinces, 30 per cent BTS towers, 25 per cent population and the 15 per cent of the number of mobile phone users, according to him.

“The Supreme Court in the United States of America in 1972 had ruled that radio frequencies be considered the natural resources, allowing the collection of royalties from the service providers,” he said. Various countries in their constitution have identified radio frequencies as natural resources and the highest royalty is being achieved from the cellular section under it.

Commission Secretary Kiran Raj Sharma stressed the need of just distribution of royalties from radio frequencies in all three local levels and the Commission’s recommendations are based on the same consideration. As he said, the Commission’s report is under discussion in the respective parliamentary committee and it is expected to be implemented from the upcoming fiscal year.

He added that income to be gained from natural resources would be a great support at a time when the government is facing shortage of resources.

Specially, it would be of support in guarantee of resources of local-level if income gained from natural resources would be distributed to local levels. Moreover, it would help in budget formulation and allocation, he mentioned.
Similarly, Engineer Khimanand Kandel and Engineer Bhuwan Poudel made joint presentation about radio frequency royalty distribution. The government with service providers has been taking four per cent amount of their total annual profit as radio frequency royalty.

As per the data of Nepal Telecom Authority, the government received Rs 2.30 billion as radio frequency royalty in fiscal year 2074/75 BS, Rs 3.87 billion in fiscal year 2075/76, Rs 3.72 billion in fiscal year 2076/77, Rs 3.52 billion in fiscal year 2077/78, and Rs 3.52 billion in fiscal year 2078/79.

On the occasion, an electronic book, a collection of local and provincial reporting on the issue of public financial management, published by SEJON was launched. Sixteen people were provided with letter of appreciation for their support in bringing out the e-book.