According to Nepal Telecom’s Rolpa office, its central office has turned a deaf ear to the locals’ complaints.

The office said to smoothen communications in the district, at least eight towers have to be installed in Jugar, Bhavang, Uba, Serem, Surpal, Mirul, Tila and Jedwang areas.

“Although we have conducted a survey and forwarded necessary documents to the central office, the centre is yet to respond,” said Kailash Acharya, head of NT’s Rolpa office. He said more than two dozen VDCs have been affected.

Although some of the private sector companies have offered mobile telecom service in Rolpa, the services are yet to cover the entire district. Their services are limited within the district headquarters and main markets.

Companies like Ncell, Hello and United Telecom Limited (UTL) have set up towers in Rolpa, but only a few are offering the services. UTL had erected a tower in Libang some two years ago, but it yet to launch the service.

The towers that were destroyed during the conflict have not been rebuilt yet. The government has repaired only a relay tower in Ratamata. The tower covers districts like Rolpa, Rukum and Jajarkot districts. According to the NT office, even existing towers in Ratamata, Thawang, Ghartigaun-Thurpalake, Libang, Satdobato, Jhenam, Gumchal, Khungri and Sulichaur aren’t much effective.

According to Nepal Telecom, 350 PSTN (landline) service in Libang and 80 in Suli Chaur have been distributed. It has also distributed 30,000 GSM mobile and 18,000 CDMA connections in the district.

The locals are also facing problems in Internet services. NT has distributed 115 ADSL Internet lines in the district headquarters and 35 in Sulichaur. The number of people using NT’s WiMax service too is increasing.