Smart Telecom has lost its telecom license after failing to clear the dues and renewal fees it owes to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA). The embattled telco's license got revoked automatically as it failed to pay the dues within the stipulated time of Sunday. Smart Telecom has to clear Rs 28bn in dues to NTA to renew its license. With the company losing its operating permit, NTA has advanced the process of asset management of Smart Telecom. A board meeting of the telecommunications sector regulator on Monday decided on the takeover of the company by the government on the basis of Property Management Regulations, 2079 BS. The government on the second week of December last year issued the Regulations for managing the property of telecommunications services providers who do not have valid licenses.

The NTA board meeting decided to instruct Smart Telecom to hand over its telecommunication infrastructure, systems and network in accordance with Rule 9 of Sub-rule 1 of the Regulations.

The company is required to pay Rs 23bn for license renewal and Rs 5bn as dues. According to NTA Co-spokesperson Achyutananda Mishra, the license of Smart Telecom was automatically revoked following non-payment of renewal fees and dues. After the cancellation of the license, the NTA has written a letter to Smart Telecom to hand over the property within 15 days. According to Mishra, a committee led by NTA board member Gokarna Sitaula will oversee the takeover of Smart Telecom. In the first phase, the authority has planned to proceed with the property evaluation of the company. Smart Telecom received the basic telephone services operating license on April 15, 2013, and had to renew the license by paying dues and renewal fees before the permit term expires. However, the company had defaulted in clearing the dues in the past and had sought an extension from the government several times. The then KP Sharma Oli-led government had allowed the company to clear the dues in five installments. Even then, Smart Telecom was not able to clear the outstanding amount. The Singapore-based Lal Sahu Distribution Pte. Ltd. has a majority stake of 70 percent in Smart Telecom. By using political influence, the company in the past had been successful in getting extensions to pay dues as well as securing its license even when the regulator revoked it. This time also, the promoters of the company did intense political lobbying to secure the license, but to no avail. On July 29, 2019, NTA revoked the license of Smart Telecom. However, the company succeeded in rolling back the authority's decision after it filed a review application at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology within five months. Smart Telecom moves court While the NTA has set a deadline of 15 days for the transfer of assets, Smart Telecom has gone to court to safeguard its license. The company had filed a case at the Patan High Court demanding to reserve the license. On behalf of Smart Telecom, Ramnath Bantha Tharu filed a case in the Patan High Court on Thursday making the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, NTA, and its chairman the defendants. However, the Patan High Court has issued only a show cause notice in the case filed by Smart Telecom not the interim order. A bench of Justice Dipendra Bahadur Bam's bench issued a show cause order on Monday and called for a discussion on the interim order. Only after the discussion, the court will decide whether or not to issue an interim order. The show cause order of the court will not stop NTA to proceed with work related to the takeover of Smart Telecom.