How data charges will be reduced by 50%

GovTech is looking at three possible aspects in reducing data charges by fifty percent as per the government’s goal of making Bhutan a high-income GNH economy by 2034.

An official from GovTech said, “Through consultations in technical groups, we are looking at three to four proposals. A short-term, a mid-term, and a long-term proposal.”

In the short-term proposal, they said, is the reduction of data charges by 50%. In doing so, they will also review on the quality of the internet service since they do not want the quality of the service to be impacted after the reduction of the charges. They will also be looking at the impact on the revenue of the operators.

In the mid-term proposal, they are looking at consolidating all the international internet bandwidth that is existing in the country. Through this approach, they plan to reduce the data charges at the source through economies of scale because if we have a huge volume of bandwidth, we can reduce the price at the source.

In the long-term proposal, they plan to consolidate all the infrastructure in the country and invest in telecommunication and proper infrastructure to provide affordable and high-speed internet services.

The government formed a cabinet sub-committee on October 8, 2024 comprising of the Minister of Finance as Chairperson along with Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, and Minister of Industry, Commerce and Employment to review the proposal and submit recommendations.

The cost of internet services in Bhutan is still among the highest both regionally and globally.

Therefore, the Prime Minister had issued an Executive Order directing the GovTech Agency, BICMA, all Telecom Service Providers, and Internet service providers to submit a strategy to achieve a 50 percent reduction in Internet service costs.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee and the stakeholders have met three times so far. The 50% internet cost reduction could be either 50% reduction on the cost of the selected data packages or increasing selected data packages by 50% at the existing data costs.

Currently, there are two Telecom Operators (with Starlink yet to start operations) and 20 Internet service providers, with a mobile subscriber base of around 790,000 and about 21,000 Internet leased line users.

The cabinet Sub-committee will soon submit its recommendations and the Lhengye Zhungtshog will then take a decision as soon as possible.