Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are yet to pay around Rs two billion in outstanding arrears to the government.

According to the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA), the amount is yet to be collected from the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund (RTDF) and companies that have not paid royalties regularly. Santosh Paudel, spokesperson for the NTA, said on Friday that the authority has yet to receive about Rs 2 billion under these two titles.

Worldlink had paid about Rs 2.25 billion in arrears to the government on November 15 in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision. Apart from this, most of the 47 ISPs who were corresponded by the NTA in mid-July are yet to clear their outstanding dues.

According to Paudel, a letter was sent again to companies that have not been regularly paying RTDF and royalties. However, except for Worldlink, most other companies have not paid their outstanding dues.

Earlier, those companies did not pay the amount claiming that no tax needs to be levied on non-telecommunication services under maintenance.