The paper commences with a briefing on the state of telecommunications in developing countries, Nepal being the prime example. The paper goes on to examine the procedures followed to establish Nepal Internet Users' group(NIUG); a non-profit NGO established to facilitate access to internet technologies through intranet in a cost-effective manner. In establishing this network, the group was assisted by the Electronic Networking Project of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)—a project funded by International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada and responsible for establishing NepalNet , a group of development organisations through which a joint home page was registered on the worldwide web. The backward and forward linkages are explored—and this includes the difficulties of establishing IT networks in countries in which governments maintain a monopoly on telecommunication facilities. How these were overcome, the equipment acquired, and the partnerships formed are all given a place in this paper. The paper concludes with a brief on costs and the plans for the future, especially the role of IT in development research.