The Bhutanese Leading the way.
As per the original plan the Third international Internet Gateway for Bhutan should have been operationalized in January 2025 but it is stuck once again, and this time it is due to Bhutan Telecom’s partner Airtel unable to get right-of-way clearance in Bangladesh.
A GovTech official said that they have talked to officials from a Bangladesh regulatory authority and they said that they are working towards finding a solution.
The delay is firstly due to the political turmoil in Bangladesh with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina being overthrown and she having to leave the country.
The official said that while the new government in Bangladesh wants to maintain good relations with Bhutan, they are more focused on other more important issues and complications arising from the change in government.
A Bhutan Telecom official said that the other issue is geo-political tensions between Bangladesh and India after the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina government. It is understood that Airtel may not be seeking clearance from Bangladesh for only the Bhutan line but also for the North-East of India and with relations between the two countries at an all time low, no right-of-way has been given yet.
In mid-2024 Bhutan Telecom changed its Indian partner from BSNL to Airtel as BSNL and BT could not agree on some quality assurance and uptime assurance.
Bangladesh offered a friendship rate of USD 3 per Mbps and then India said it will give it for USD 4.5 per Mbps to Bhutan inclusive of the Bangladesh rate and also some subsidy.
The physical cable was also almost done and had reached near Gelephu through which it will enter Bhutan. Bhutan was to procure a 10 Gbps line to start with.
The GovTech official said that they are hopeful that something can happen soon.
Bhutan currently has two international gateways through Mumbai and Kolkata but the problem is that both come via Kolkata and Siliguri which makes them vulnerable as seen during Cyclone Amphan when the internet to Bhutan went down.
The third gateway through Gelephu will create a 100 km redundancy which will be crucial for Bhutan as a back up and its IT future.
The line to Gelephu will come via the Power Grid Corporation of India powerlines though Airtel is also building its own underground lines in the region.
