As per the telecom license condition, operators cannot leave services halted for more than 24 hours.

The UTL management has accused the agitating employees of not repairing the damages to the optical fibre network “intentionally”, while the employees say the management itself “tampered” with the cables, making it difficult for them to repair.

“We are holding talks with companies providing fibre optics services to solve the problem as our employees are not cooperating with us,” said UTL Company Secretary Suyash Pradhan. “We are doing our bit to restore the services at the earliest.”

Pradhan said the company is also investigating the damages. “We are investigating whether the employees or others are involved in damaging the fibre optics network,” he added.

The workers associated with the UTL chapter of the All Nepal Workers Union for Organisations and Financial Institutions have been protesting for the last few months, putting forth a 14-point demand.

The company has said it is positive on fulfilling many of their demands. “However, the union puts forward new demands every time

the two sides near a consensus. This has protracted the problem,” it said.

Pradhan said the union members were also reluctant to sit for talks although the Appellate Court directed them not the hinder the services.

The workers are demanding a pay hike of Rs 15,000 per month and issuance of appointment letters to those who have served for more than 240 days, among others.

The company, however, said it has been offering 35 percent of their salaries as project allowance to the workers, and has been hiking the pay by 20 percent annually.

“Despite incurring losses, the company raised salary by 10 percent last year,” UTL said.