The India-Nepal joint venture, United Telecom Ltd (UTL) - a CDMA network operator - has reportedly lost US$70 million due to a combination of government policies and an ongoing strike which has closed company offices for over a month.
Part-time and temporary staff have been on strike since Feb 6th over demands that they are granted full-time employee status. The matter has been compounded by close links between the prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress party and the labour union which is behind the strike.
The strike was called by part-time and contract workers employed by the third-party contracting company J&T Associates, who won the tender to outsource unskilled staff for UTL. Several offices have been occupied by the strikers, and the police have been reluctant to remove them.
The company was granted a license in 2002, but was shut down in 2005 during the period where former King Gyanendra seized absolute power in the country. The move gave a relative of the King a chance to promote his own phone network to the detriment of UTL.
Eve after the fall of the King, the new government has still refused to grant the company a full mobility license to compete with Nepal Telecom.
Posted to the site on 7th March 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/29783.php