Inside Nepal’s Biggest Telecom Scandal: How Smart Telecom’s Collapse Caused Rs 30 Billion Loss to the State

Kathmandu. Smart Telecom has been recorded as the largest and most serious financial loss to the state in the history of Nepal’s telecommunications sector. The collapse of the once third-largest telecommunications service provider in the country, along with political manoeuvring to keep it afloat, has resulted in losses amounting to billions of rupees for the state.

The controversial decision to reinstate the license of Smart Telecom, which had been revoked six and a half years earlier, was taken by the government led by then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. As a result, the state has incurred losses exceeding Rs 30 billion under various headings.