Before joining NTA in April 2006, he served as an assistant professor and head of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Kathmandu University. He continues to serve as a visiting faculty member at different universities in Nepal and teaches subjects related to telecommunications and information and communications technologies (ICTs).

He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering in electronics and communications and a master’s degree in engineering in optical communication. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in law. Mr. Khanal has participated in multiple training courses at international institutes, including the International Telecommunications Union, the Australian Communications and Multimedia Authority, the Public Utility Research Center, the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, the Telecommunication Executive Management Institute of Canada, the United States Telecommunications Training Institute, and other regulatory agencies. He has also participated in a number of seminars, workshops, meetings and symposia dealing with telecommunications, ICTs, broadband and cybersecurity.

Mr. Khanal is very active in national, regional and international conferences, workshops, seminars and meetings. He has delivered a number of keynote addresses and served as a panelist and moderator for a number of panel discussions. Mr. Khanal was elected as vice chairman of the ITU-Telecommunication Development Sector Study Group Two from 2014 to 2017 and was re-elected through the World Telecommunications Development Conference to hold the position until 2021. He has also chaired a number of national committees dealing with telecommunications and ICTs, including cybersecurity. He frequently publishes on various issues related to telecommunications and ICTs, broadband, and cybersecurity.