It is a matter of simple e-calculation that 20,000 email/Internet account holders (out of 260,000 telephone subscribers in the country) will generate additional local call revenue for NTC at the rate of Rs 20 per hour use per account holder ("Nepal's ISP e-conomics" #21). That is why Nepal Telecommunications Corporation, being a "monopoly", did not even think of purchasing "technology to monitor usage".

NTC may have a "poor service record" in the eyes of Internet-happy intellectuals, especially if they compare it with Europe and Japan. But NTC's e-data shows that the quality of service is improving: the number of subscriber complaints (telephone line faults) per 100 subscribers per month has decreased from 21 in 1995 to nine in 1999.

One other error in your reporting is about per line revenue, which is decreasing not increasing. Total revenue (including international calls) per line per month was about Rs 2,100 in 1995, whereas it is Rs 1,400 at present. It can easily be proven that NTC is one of the most efficiently run public enterprises in Nepal. Hats off to our ISPs if they are scared of NTC's "muscle". The private sector always bulldozes the government machinery by immoral means including bribes and favours.

Sugat Ratna Kansakar
Regional Director, NTC