Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel announced this week the budget for the next fiscal year and the government's policies and programs, things like digital infrastructure and digital governance have been repeated with priority.

Along with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, other ministers also mentioned the issue of digital transformation. However, if we look at the achievements of the last few years with the resources arranged by the government and the programs designed, it does not seem that the digital transformation has become fruitless.

In this year's budget speech, Finance Minister Paudel said that the pace of digital economy development is slow due to the lack of digital infrastructure. Criticism has started saying that the government is either not aware or not serious about this issue due to keeping a low budget for the expansion of infrastructure, which is considered as the basis of the digital economy. In the government's policies and programs for the coming year, a plan has been put forward to expand the nationwide reach of telecommunications services as a digital foundation and make the process of receiving and giving services transparent and efficient by expanding 'faceless services'.

While presenting the budget on Thursday, Finance Minister Paudel said, 'Due to the lack of digital infrastructure, the pace of digital economy development is slow.' He mentioned that digital, mobile and branchless banking services will be expanded and the second edition of 'Digital Nepal Framework' will be formulated.

Minister Paudel says that interoperability will be established between the existing information technology systems in public services, the capacity of the citizen app will be expanded, the arrangements for distributing citizenship through electronic means will be made effective, electronic information from all government agencies will be integrated and secure storage arrangements will be made. Starting 5G services in large urban areas, establishing AI centers and IT parks are also in the budget.

Information technology expert Manohar Bhattarai comments that although the government's intentions are good, expansion of public digital infrastructure (DPI) is not easy due to limited resources and lack of clear planning. "Now is the time to invest significantly in areas such as digital public infrastructure, data center, government cloud, broadband expansion," he said, "but the allocated budget is insufficient." He said that not only network infrastructure including optical fiber, 5G, but also software, public digital service delivery, data management, and cyber security, the budget allocated and the progress so far does not look encouraging.

The expansion of optical fiber, which is considered the backbone of information technology among digital infrastructure, is not as dynamic as expected in Nepal. According to the economic survey of the current year released on the same day as the budget speech, only 6,723 km of optical fiber has been extended from June 2078 to February 2081. The fiber network, which was extended to 10,527 km in 2078, has reached 17,250 km in February 2081.

The project started in the year 2076 to lay optical fiber to all the district headquarters along with the Madhyapahari Lokmarg to create an information highway across the country has not yet been completed. Although almost 10 billion rupees have been allocated for this purpose from the Rural Telecommunication Fund of Nepal Telecommunication Authority, the work of fiber network expansion is slow.

The government-owned telecommunication service provider Nepal Telecom has announced that it has expanded 1,450 km of fiber in Koshi, Madhesh and Bagmati provinces under the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund. It was mentioned in the details presented by Sangeeta Pahari, Managing Director of Telecom, that out of the target of 1,748 km expansion in Karnali and Sudurpaschim Province, only 56.8 percent of the work has been completed so far.

The implementation of the Digital Nepal Framework, which was approved by the Council of Ministers in 2076 and considered a transformative project by the National Planning Commission, is also not satisfactory. According to the Auditor General's latest report, the framework has not been revised and there is no responsible agency for implementation and no clear budget arrangement. The Accountant General has reported that there has been a delay in 80 activities scheduled under the framework.

The work of connecting public services to the citizen app launched by the government as a major digital platform has only been partially completed. According to the report of the General Account, programs such as the establishment of a digital bank, the system of paying fees through QR codes, and the establishment of an information technology knowledge park in Khumaltar have not been implemented. Even though online systems have been started in government offices, they are not interconnected. It is ironic that the customer has to submit his documents and biometric details to the agency. The parliamentarians themselves have expressed doubts about the data security of the details of the National Identity Card, which has been made compulsory for various services. It is found that some government agencies that spend crores of rupees annually on the purchase and maintenance of billions of software have not even done basic work such as installing SSL on the website and VAPT audit for cyber security.

The fifth generation of mobile data, 5G service, which is expanding rapidly in neighboring countries, has yet to be launched in Nepal. 4G service is yet to be expanded across the country. Although the budget has announced the expansion of 5G in major cities and 4G in rural areas, there is no clear preparation to put it into practice. Still, internet service is not of good quality in major cities including Kathmandu. Expert Bhattarai says, 'In terms of digital infrastructure expansion, it is not only about reaching, but quality is also equally important. Currently, the experience of internet service is not satisfactory. Sunaina Pandey Ghimire, President of Computer Association Nepal Federation (CAN Federation), expressed doubts about the implementation of the government's focus on infrastructure expansion, establishment of AI center through the budget, encouragement of private sector in construction of data center, launch of 5G. "The budget is good, there are things like establishing an AI center, facilitating the private sector in the data center," she said, "but there is no sense if it is not implemented." Such plans were introduced in the previous years as well but were not implemented.