Nepal Telecom (NT) called on the Expression of Interest (EOI) on Tuesday to hire a consultant as part of the preparations to bring in the much talked about strategic partner.
Nepal Telecom (NT) called on the Expression of Interest (EOI) on Tuesday to hire a consultant as part of the preparations to bring in the much talked about strategic partner. The company has invited applications from interested national and international consultants.
The consultant to be hired would prepare the Due Diligence Audit (DDA) of NT and prepare documents to call global tenders for a strategic partner. The company has been planning to divest 30 percent of its share to the partner. According to the EOI notice, interested consultants will have to submit their CVs within April 10. Basic requirements for potential consultants include experience in strategic partnership studies, providing consulting service to at least five international markets and possession of qualified human resources. For the rigid procurement rules and political interference, the state owned company, for the last four years, has been planning to bring in a partner. NT officials said the partnership would make the company more competitive and bring in new technology, adding that the involvement of an independent consulting firm would likely attract a greater number of global bidders as the study would be more reliable.
“Since we put the notice today I hope we will be able to bind an eligible consultant within two months,” said Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, managing director of the NT. He claimed that they would shortlist 3-6 consultants from the EOI and hire one consultant from ‘limited bidding’.
According to the procedures, the company will select a consultant in the first phase and a tender notice will be issued as well as the selection of a partner in the second. Studies carried out regarding the strategic partnership has showed that it would take two years to tie up a partner.
The government currently has a 92 percent stake in NT. After three years of repeated attempts, the government last year agreed in principle for NT to tie up with a competent international partner. The prospective partner will have to invest Rs 30-40 billion to buy shares of NT, as per a study carried out by the Ministry of Finance in 2012.
The study has also put forth a number of pre-conditions: Prospective partners should have operations in at least three countries, a subscriber base of 20 million and an annual income of US$ 1 billion for the last three years. Applying companies should also be in profit for the last three years.
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