Preparations to award telecom billing contract to Huawei, all others disqualified

Kathmandu: Nepal Telecom has moved ahead with preparations to award its billing system contract to Huawei, despite a Supreme Court order to prevent conflicts of interest in the process. In a notice issued on Sunday, the telecom announced that only Chinese company Huawei Technologies was found technically qualified. Its financial proposal will be opened on September 15, 2025.

The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that the personal information and data of subscribers, part of the telecom’s core network, must not be accessed and that there should be no conflict of interest in the billing system procurement process. However, Telecom has declared Huawei technically qualified for the contract, even though the company is already managing the core network.

In a writ petition filed by Advocate Rita Karki against Nepal Telecom, the Supreme Court issued a directive order on 10 September, 2024. The order stressed that subscriber data and personal information must be protected, and that companies involved in managing the core network should not be awarded the billing system contract.

“Any unauthorized access to personal information of the public is a serious violation of constitutional provisions on fundamental rights such as the right to privacy, the right to personal freedom, and the right to live with dignity,” the Supreme Court ruling stated. “It is therefore necessary to ensure that companies producing or selling billing systems do not gain access to such information and that no conflict of interest arises in the procurement process.”

Nepal Telecom had called for proposals on March 18, 2025. Only Huawei and Whale Cloud submitted bids, but Telecom declared only Huawei technically qualified.

A former managing director of Nepal Telecom said awarding the billing system contract to Huawei would directly contradict the Supreme Court’s order. “Huawei is already working on the core network. Now it has been qualified for the billing system contract as well. How can Telecom guarantee that Huawei will not access subscriber data or that a conflict of interest will not arise? Technically, this is very complex. It seems nearly impossible for Telecom to obtain documents or assurances from Huawei to satisfy the Supreme Court’s requirements. This entire contract process goes against the Court’s directive,” the former MD said.

The telecom’s current billing system is managed by Asia Info, but repeated disruptions due to its outdated system have drawn criticism. On July 28, the telecom’s data service was down for four hours after a serious billing system failure.

On 8 June, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed a corruption case against former Managing Director Sangita Pahadi Aryal and others, alleging irregularities in an earlier billing system tender related to maintenance.

 

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