March 24, 2002	Sunday	Muharram 9, 1423

KOLKATA, March 23: A joint venture between Indian business group ModiCorp and a Nepali trading house, the Khetans, will launch the Himalayan kingdom’s first private mobile phone service by August, an official said on Saturday.

Spice Nepal, the joint venture firm in which the Indian partner has an 80 per cent stake, was to start the service kingdom last year itself.

“We have had some legal and administrative delays. We now plan to start services in three-four months time,” R.S. Desikan, Spice Nepal’s chief, told Reuters by telephone from Kathmandu.

Spice Nepal’s cellphone launch was delayed after workers of state-run Nepal Telecommunications Corp, which enjoyed a monopoly over cellphone services earlier, filed a case demanding that NTC’s monopoly should continue.

But Nepal’s Supreme Court in August last year rejected the workers’ plea.

“The services will initially be launched in Kathmandu and later extended to other areas. We are working out an attractive tariff package to benefit customers,” Desikan said.—Reuters