CG Telecom
Chaudhary Group, one the biggest business house of Nepal (popular for electronic products, Food, beverages) has sold all of its share in CG telecom. By the sellout, Chaudhary Group has exited the telecom business which is known to be one of the lucrative business in Nepal. Previously, Chaudhary Group had acquired 80 percent share of the rural telco provider, STM telecom and already apply for the unified license in Nepal. As STM or CG tel could not meet the NTA’s requirement for the unified license, it was not granted the license which they applied a long time back. Though unified license would enable them to use any technology in all part of the country, most of the operators were known to operate technologies in GSM families. Another reason could be the unavailability of enough spectrum for GSM.
Chaudhary group has sold all of its shares to Helicopter tycoon Mr. Rameshwor Thapa ( Simrik Airlines). The 20.75 million worth company is bought by Mr. Thapa at Rs 0.33 million (33 Lakhs) which is very low as compared to the share worth. The total share was present in the name of Sarika Chaudhary and Nirvan Chaudhary ( Wife and Son of Mr. Binod Chaudhary) which is now in the name of Mr. Suresh Raj Ghimire (of Ramechap). After the sellout, Nirvan chaudhary has resigned from the company executive. The liability of 90 million to Kumari bank has also been transferred to Rameshwor Thapa’s head and this is the reason for the sellout in such a minimal amount.
As the regulator, NTA has recently amended the Radio Frequency Policy to include maximum frequency after Merger and is known to formulate Merger policy among the telecom operators in Nepal, such type of acquisition was known to happen and there are some rumors regarding more acquisition/ merger. It is not known how Mr. Thapa is going to make use of the company. As various international investors in telecom sector like Airtel, Singtel, DoCoMo are interested to invest in the telecom sector in Nepal, the company ( previously CG tel) can get such highly experienced partners. There was also a rumor regarding Axiata, the parent company of Ncell, planning to acquire Smart Telecom (third telecom operator in Nepal) but there is no any significant proof regarding the merger between Ncell and Smart tel.
