Indian companies Tata and Airtel have sent letters to Nepal’s Internet service providers warning that internet bandwidth entering Nepal will be blocked due to non-payment for five months.

Indian companies Tata and Airtel have not received their payments for the past five months after the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) did not recommend ISPs to pay their dues in dollars.

Nepal’s ISPs are buying international bandwidth with Indian companies Airtel and Tata. However, bandwidth payments have been halted after the ministry did not recommend the companies to make payments in dollars. Tata and Airtel have written letters to ISPs in Nepal warning them to stop bandwidth if they do not pay on time.

However, according to the Office of the Auditor General, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has stated that ISPs will not be recommend for payment in dollars until the arrears from 2018/19 cleared.

Indian companies had sent a letter to Nepali ISPs giving an ultimatum of 30 days. They have warned that the information service could be disrupted after 30 days, which has worried Nepali ISPs.