A private phone company in Nepal was allowed to restore services to most customers in the capital on Saturday, more than a month after they were cut following the take-over by King Gyanendra, a company official said. However, more than 1,000 phone lines of United Telecom will remain blocked for an unspecified reason, the official said, and all customers have been told to register with the government to have services restored.
Gyanendra ordered the shutdown of the entire telecommunications system and imposed censorship on newspapers and television channels to try to thwart demonstrations against his decision to sack a four-party coalition government and seize power on February 1.
Services of state-owned Nepal Telecom were restored a week later. But the services of United Telecom, a joint venture between Indian firms and a Nepalese company, were blocked for 46 days, said the official who declined to be named.
"We resumed phone services to 22,600 customers from Saturday," the official said, adding that the government had told it to provide a list of its 31,000 customers.
"The remaining phone lines will be reconnected very soon." Mobile phone services however remain blocked across the Himalayan kingdom.
Nepal has eased some restrictions imposed after the take-over, including releasing senior political leaders from house arrest and restoring some communications services. But the government has arrested protestors opposed to Gyanendra's take-over and censorship has remained in place.
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