COUNTRY PAPER For Network & Services Working Group Presenter: TENZIN DORJI BICMA, BHUTAN 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

AGENDA 1. TELECOM MARKET OVERVIEW 2. INITIATIVES TO ENSURE QUALITY MOBILE HAND SETS 3. INITIATIVES FOR NGN AND NGA 4. ROAMING AND INTERNATIONAL TARIFFS 5. RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

TELECOM MARKET OVERVIEW TWO MOBILE OPERATORS AND SEVEN ISPS 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

TELECOM MARKET OVERVIEW 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX: Internet ServiceNo. of Subscribers GPRS/EDGE G1549 Broadband (ADSL)6100 Lease Line238 Dial Up2115

ENSURING QUALITY MOBILE HAND SETS PRESENT SCENARIO: Actual number of users not known-No study done Concerns raised BUT no solution yet BICMA is exploring ways to curb such users Banning Sale/Individual users Type approval procedure under consideration 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

ENSURING QUALITY MOBILE HAND SETS WAY FORWARD: Education and Awareness among users IMEI Regulation- Hacking of IMEI EMC Standards/under TX/RX devices ISSUES: Porous border/free trade Why and Who are the Users? 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

NGA AND NGN INITIATIVES IN BHUTAN INITIATIVES TAKEN BY BHUTAN Converged License initiated Roll out of Fiber is underway-Fibre to the kerb/cabinet Transition to digital broadcasting-initiated with the assistance of ITU-Initial Phase Tariff Order 2009-for leased lines and dark Fibre 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

NGA AND NGN INITIATIVES IN BHUTAN INITIATIVES TAKEN BY BHUTAN Universal communication Access by June Roll out of USF for Infrastructure development Power Company issued FBO License-to roll out fiber faster- USF also used Infrastructure Sharing and Interconnection Framework - Consultation Phase 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

ROAMING AND INTERNATIONAL TARIFFS Roaming charges are left for the Operators to negotiate with other parties involved International Tariffs are fixed by Operators but approved by BICMA Expensive and studying ways to reduce Recommendations of this group will be useful 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

CONSTRAINTS Small Customer Base Harsh Terrain and Mountainous Scattered Population Local Content and low literacy No clear policy directives No internal experts/human resource capacity 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION These are common issues that could be solved with common efforts Providing access is of no use if it is not affordable Lack of local content/applications 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX:

TASHIDELEKH & THANK YOU! 1 ST SATRC WORK GROUP MEETING ON NETWORK AND SERVICES JULY 2010, COLOMBO, SRILANKA Post Box 1072, Olakha, Babesa Express Road, Thimphu: Bhutan. URL: Tel: , FAX: