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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, Punakha, 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 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 3- and 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.

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