Honest Effort
With the entry of broadband service providers, Bhutan is marching ahead by connecting the unconnected through different peoplecentric plans and services
Bhutan, the landlocked South Asian state, is one of the world’s smallest economies, but has grown rapidly in recent years. The 62.7% teledensity of the country, in a mere population of 7.8 lakh, and the commencement of 3G services clearly indicate that the country is striving hard to get rid of its ‘Poor’ image.
Cellular Industry: Driving Growth
As of September 2011, the mobile teledensity of the country stands at 59%, with the total number of subscribers reaching 4.3 lakh, compared to 3.7 lakh last year as of September 2011, which for a country like this is nothing less than an achievement.
The cellular industry is driven by 2 operators in the country: Bhutan Telecom Limited ( BTL) and Tashi Infocomm.
BTL: It emerged on July 1, 2000 as a complete state-owned company, with the corporatization of the former Department of Telecommunications (DOT), which was established in 1970. The company has taken its services to far off corners of Bhutan, thus providing a country-wide network. As of September 2011, the company had 3.3 lakh subscribers and provided the mobile services in both prepaid and postpaid format.
The postpaid service comprise of 3 plans—super 200 plan, providing a free talktime and SMSES of 150 Nu, in a monthly rental of 200 Nu; Super 400 plan, offering a full talktime and SMSES of 400 Nu, in a monthly rental of 400 Nu; and Super 700 plan giving a free talktime and SMSES of 700 Nu along with a free monthly miss call alert service of 35 Nu and a free Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) service of 35 Nu.
The company’s prepaid service offers a standard package containing SMS, CLIP, STD, and ISD facility. The SIM activation charge consists of the following: 50 Nu, the general calling tariff includes 0.75 Nu for 15 seconds while calling from a mobile to fixedphone, and 0.70 Nu for calling a mobile.
The company also provides international roaming services with its 139 partner operators worldwide; and was the first and the only operator to provide 3G services on mobile and data cards. The 3G service is offered in 4 plans: Lite, Easy, Supreme, and Unlimited, respectively.
The Lite plan offers 300 MB of data usage at 149 Nu, the Easy plan provides 1.2 GB of data capacity at a charge of 399 Nu, and the Supreme and Unlimited plan provides data usages of 2.5 GB and limitless usage at 799 Nu and 999 Nu, respectively. The charge for a video call on 3G are 1.75 Nu for 20 seconds.
Tashi Infocomm: It’s the country’s only private company providing cellular services. Incorporated in October 2006, the company has adopted Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) and 93,500 subscribers as of September 2011. At present, the operator’s network covers 13 provinces of the country, including Thimphu, Paro, Haa, Chhukha, Pu-
Bhutan, despite being among the weakest nations of the world, is growing impressively in the telecom segment. However much has to be done on the infrastructure part of the country for steady and uninterrupted services
nakha, Wangdue, Samtse, Gasa, Tsirang, Dagana, Sarpang, Zhemgang, Trongsa, and Bumthang.
In order to avail the prepaid services of the company, a user has to spend 50 Nu as an activation fee, which provides the user with a talktime of Nu 25 and a SIM validity of 3 months. The operator charges 0.40 Nu/unit (15 seconds) while calling a Tashi cellphone, and 0.50 Nu/unit, when giving a call on B-mobile. The operator also provides the facility of calling India on a nominal charge of 1.20 Nu/unit.
The SMS rates of the operator are 0.50 Nu for sending an SMS to any operator in the country, and the charge for sending a message to India is 5 NU/SMS. The company also provides the facility of balance transfer for prepaid subscribers via IVR or SMS.
For postpaid services, one has to pay a sum of 500 Nu as a SIM activation fee in which the company offers a talktime of 300 Nu, and then a monthly rental of 300 Nu has to paid.
On the VAS front, the company provides services such as GPRS, EDGE, MMS, and CRBT service. The international roaming facility of the company is available in 3 countries—thailand, India, and Hong
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Kong; and the Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service is provided in 27 countries at a charge of 7.5 Nu/min.
Fixed/broadband: Facts and Figures
The fixedphone teledensity of the nation stands at 3.77%, with a minor drop compared to the last year. The total number of fixedphone subscribers of the nation stood at 25,592 as of September 2011. The fixedphone services are provided only by Bhutan Telecom. The operator charges a sum of 100 Nu as a registration and installation charge from a user to provide the services. The call rate includes 1.5 Nu/min for an STD call and 0.6 Nu/min for a local one. Calling from the operator’s fixedphone to a Tashi cell phone costs 3 Nu/min.
Bhutan Telecom also offers 3-digit and 6-digit number facilities for organizations. The 3-digit number makes it easy to remember and fast to dial and an additional toll-free facility is also provided by the company, with which all calls terminating at a number will be free of cost. The 6-digit number facility is only available in the capital city of Thimphu.
The charges to avail the facility of 3and 6-digit numbers are 1,500 Nu for 3 months, 3,000 Nu for 6 months, and 6,000 Nu for above 6 months, respectively. The company also provides call details to subscribers at a charge of 50 Nu for 6 months.
The broadband-using population of the country counts 12,084, with the total internet subscribers reaching at 13,014. Users using leased line and dial-up services consist of a very minute portion of the nation’s population.
The majority of the internet users in the country use GPRS/EDGE services to avail connectivity. With 96,766 and 6,020 GPRS/EDGE subscribers of Bhutan Telecom and Tashi Infocomm, respectively; the nation still has a lot to develop in the broadband segment.
Major Internet Service Providers
The major internet service providers (ISPS) of the country includes Bhutan Telecom,
Samden Technologies, Peljorkhang, LD IT solution, Yangkhor IT solution, etc.
Bhutan Telecom: It provides its broadband services in 48 locations of the country, in the bandwidth ranging from 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps. The services in prepaid and postpaid format come in various plans, for setting a postpaid connection one has to buy a modem by the name (CPE) from the company that costs 1,350 Nu. The user can even get his own modem installed at a charge of 250 Nu.
The ‘Home’ plan offers a speed of up to 512 Kbps, with a monthly tariff of 499 Nu providing a data limit of 2.5 GB; the second plan meant for offices offers a speed of 1 Mbps, with a monthly tariff of 1,599 Nu, providing a data limit of 8 GB; and the third plan for enterprises provides a bandwidth of 2 Mbps, at a tariff of 2,999 Nu and a data limit of 15 GB. All the 3 plans remain the same for the prepaid users except for a slight change in the tariff. The Home plan comes for 399 Nu, the office one for 1,499 Nu, and the enterprise plan prices 2,499 Nu in the prepaid segment.
The company also provides WLL service at a monthly tariff of 700 Nu, providing a speed of 128 Kbps and a data limit of 300 MB and the dial-up service costs 1.50 Nu for 4 minutes.
Yangkhor Infotech: It got incorporated in the year 2005. The company provides software & hardware, networking, and IT enabled services like setting up and configuring IP coverage like video conferencing, VOIP, CCTV & surveillance security, camera connections, and setting up of wireless LAN and WAN, etc.
Peljorkhang: It was established in the year 1993 and delivers ICT products and services through its distributorships and dealership with the leading ICT companies. The company’s list of resellers and solution partners include companies like Microsoft, HP Singapore, Cisco, Oracle Singapore, and Ingram Micro India and provides solutions like LAN, WAN, NAS, SAN, VOIP & VPN solutions, firewall and security, security cameras with remote surveillance, DSL modems for broadband, and ICT infrastructure deployment.
Leki Dorji (LD) Technologies: It started off its services in June 2007, and provides internet services at an affordable price with technical back-up. The company’s complete services list includes servicing of computers, printers, laptops and servers, installation and configuration of networks like LAN, wireless, etc, warranty support for all its products sold, and maintenance contract for computers and peripherals. The company’s partners’ list includes companies like HP, Dell, Cisco, Canon, Lenovo, etc.
Samden Tech: It was incorporated in 2000 and provides VSAT based applications and services, broadband wireless internet access, VOIP services, video conferencing services, networking services, software development, consultancies and other Ict-related services in the country.
Bhutan, despite being among the weakest nations of the world, is growing impressively in the telecom segment. However much has to be done on the country’s infrastructure for steady and uninterrupted services in order to make the nation a strong competitor for its Saarc counterparts.
rimits@cybermedia.co.in