KATHMANDU: The Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) has demanded that the Cyber Security Act should be enacted and implemented effectively to curb the rising criminal activity.

The NTA has demanded to bring the Act as soon as possible saying that with the rapid development of information and communication technology, the risk in cyber security is increasing day by day and illegal and criminal activities through social media are increasing.

NTA Chair Purushottam Khanal pointed out the need for the government to bring cyber security act in the process of building a digital economy by transforming the state into digital Nepal.

The NTEA has taken it as a problem and challenge to get the revenue that the state has to get from cheap unauthorized access to the Nepali market like Viber, Skype, Facebook, YouTube and to bring it under the scope of regulation.

The NTA has also pointed out the need to form an integrated regulatory body to make the regulation of the sector strong, empowered and self-reliant due to the multi-faceted opportunities and challenges in the region due to the rapid development in information and communication technology.

According to NTA, 27.7 million people are currently using high speed internet broadband. Out of that, there are 19.853 million mobile broadband users.

NTA’s Rural Telecommunication Development Fund Operation (Broadband Connectivity) has so far provided internet connection in 679 local levels, 5,554 ward offices, 5,032 schools and 4,027 health posts in 393 places.