Kathmandu, June 21 -- The Nepal Telecommunications Authority has disqualified Mobillion, the lowest bidder for a $7.66 million Mobile Device Management System contract, after finding out that the Belgian-Nepali joint venture included a local partner of Ncell.

The regulatory body said Tuesday that it would award the consulting contract for developing and commissioning the system to the second lowest bidder, a joint venture of Malaysian firm Nuemera, OSI of India and Namaste Global communication of Singapore. The Mobile Device Management System tracks and blocks unregistered mobiles from entering the country through grey channels.

"We launched an investigation of Mobillion on suspicion of conflict of interest, and found out that one of th...