Kathmandu, Aug. 18 -- The prime minister's office (PMO) has begun examining the tender process and technical specifications for Nepal Telecom's proposed new billing system, prompting concerns within the state-owned operator over what employees describe as growing external involvement in technical and procurement decisions.

The information technology section of the PMO instructed the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on May 27 to provide documents related to the procurement, with a copy sent to Nepal Telecom. The requested records include procurement documents, system design and architecture diagrams, geographic information system frameworks and details of the company's 4G/LTE operations.

The review is being conducted...