Until just a year ago the only working phones in Kalikot were the VSAT phones in the barracks in Manma. The two public phones with long distance were out. Manma never got the 150 phone lines it was meant to in 2002, before the first emergency, because the administration felt the phones would be misused. Then the Maoists blew up the repeater tower at Bharta and Kalikot was disconnected from the rest of Nepal.

Things have changed. The tower was repaired this past winter. Over 500 mobile CDOT lines have been distributed in the district and also in Dailekh’s Khadki Bajar.

A mobile CDMA tower has been put up to support another 300 lines, for which subscribers pay an initial fee of Rs 8,000. The phones, which were distributed in 20 VDCs, are all mobile and Nepal Telecom officers tell us that each VDC has been issued 10 lines. Solar panels have been set up to charge them.

Locals say they save a lot of time now that they don’t have to queue up for the phone in Manma. The CDO works more efficiently now that people can fax their letters through, instead of having to send out letter after letter by post. Although still expensive, the district has email and internet access. Nepal Telecom earned barely Rs 50,000 a month during the conflict. Now it earns a whopping one million rupees.