The Bhutanese Leading the way.
As per the GovTech Agency, the government is closely working with both the Governments of Bangladesh and India to realize the establishment of Third International Internet Gateway.
According to the Prime Minister Dasho Dr Lotay Tshering, on Thursday Lyonchhen met with the Foreign Secretary of India, and he have conveyed that it is all done and approved.
“ Very soon we will have the redundancy issue addressed. Since this thing do not grow overnight, one of the biggest chapter under ICT in Bhutan has happened,” Lyonchhen said.
An official from the GovTech Agency said that Bhutan, being the landlocked country, does not have direct access to submarine cable landing stations.
“GovTech is also ensuring the availability of the telecommunication and broadband services in all pockets of the country to generate more demand for Internet bandwidth to see if that can be used to reduce the cost of Internet in the country,” he said.
He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade is pursuing negotiations with the Government of India regarding the tariff rates for the Third International Internet Gateway.
The finalized route for the Third Gateway is Gelephu, Bhutan-Agartala, India-Comilla, Bangladesh-Kuakata, Bangladesh-Singapore. The tariff from the Government of Bangladesh is finalized and agreed at USD 3 per Mbps per month.
Currently, a congested corridor in Siliguri, India, serves as the passageway for Bhutan’s international Internet connectivity lines. Bhutan would lose connectivity to the outside world in the event of the tragedy in and around Siliguri.
The agency official added, “As a result, Bhutan will now have redundant international Internet connectivity thanks to the development of the third international gateway via Bangladesh. The third gateway would also have an effect on the country’s overall capacity to afford Internet and broadband services.”
