As per the objective of Telecommunication Policy of 2004, 'to bring the access of general public of rural and urban areas of the nation to the telecommunication service, arrangement shall be made in a manner that the telecommunication service shall be available within the shouting distance in the inhabitated areas.Arrangement shall be made for getting opportunity to use appropriate information and
communication technology for poverty alleviation and development of the rural areas.'The Nepal Telecommunications Authority issued the second Rural Telecommunications Service (RTS) license to Smart Telecom Pvt. In the license, STPL has been assigned 398 un-served Village Development Committees (VDCs) which lie in the four development regions out of five regions except for the Eastern Development Region. As per the license, choice of technology is open in order to provide service in the stipulated area and even International Long Distance (ILD) service can be launched by payment of appropriate fee to the NTA. In the above framework, Smart Telecom has launched its service by building a mixed network of fixed and wireless technology whichever is appropriate for the location. The service range is from voice and data service with wire-line terminals and wireless fixed and mobile terminals for limited mobile wireless terminals. The services provided by Smart Telecom will not be just providing voice and data service but will also bring special services for social cause like education, health and agriculture. Smart Telecom has successfully launched its VSAT services from 26th November 2009 and GSM services has been launched from 9thJuly 2010.
