BHUTAN

STATEMENT BY H.E. mr LYONPO LEKI DORJI
MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

Mr. Chairman; ITU Secretary General; Excellencies; Distinguished Delegates; Ladies and Gentlemen:

I bring to this august gathering the greetings and good wishes of His Majesty the King and the people of Bhutan. I thank the Secretary General, the ITU Secretariat and the Government of Turkey for organizing the 17th ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in this beautiful city of Antalya.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has triggered a revolution – a quiet and peaceful revolution, but one that has transformed the world. ICT is now no longer an option for some, but a necessary tool for all.

Even in the remote Himalayan nation of Bhutan, we have come to realize that we no longer live in a closed world, we are embracing ICT to bring our people within the fold of the global village.

Guided by His Majesty the King’s people-centered development philosophy of Gross National Happiness, the people of Bhutan are transiting from monarchy to parliamentary democracy. Our draft Constitution enshrines “freedom of the press, radio and television. “The right to information” is guarantied as Fundamental rights of every Bhutanese. Fostering technological innovation is also enshrined as one of the Principles of State Policy.

To pave the way for the information society, we have enacted a converged Information, Communications, and Media Act, developed the Bhutan ICT Policy and Strategies (BIPS) with the vision to “harness the benefits of ICT, both as an enabler and as an industry. We have opened up the ICT and media sector to the private operators, licensed two private newspapers, abolished the exclusive privilege enjoyed by Bhutan Telecom, expanded national television coverage nationwide, and licensed a second FM radio operator. We are in the process of licensing a second mobile telecom operator to encourage competition and further liberalize the telecom market. We are also implementing Local Area Networks (LANs) in all the districts of Bhutan, and Wide Area Network (WAN) in the capital to network all government agencies. A National Broadband Master Plan is also being developed to smoothly transition towards next generation network and broadband infrastructure. We are implementing Community Information Centres across the country to empower communities through information. Our dream is to reach out to all the village blocks so that the Government’s policy and programmes can reach to the grassroots people faster and enable the people to participate in the policy and decision making process, in a timely manner.

Ladies and Gentleman:

The biggest challenge we are facing today, especially in least developed countries like Bhutan, is roll-out of basic telecommunications infrastructure, development of local contents, and human capacity building. In a country with scarce resources and competing needs, it is not always easy to get financing for ICT projects. In this regard, I would like to place on record my deep appreciation to the ITU for its invaluable assistance to all developing countries for the last many years. We would also like to acknowledge the very important initiatives taken by the ITU in close collaboration with the Asia Pacific Telecommunity in the development of ICT in our region, where two-third of the humanity lives. It is our hope that ITU, APT and other organizations will continue to actively participate and collaborate in all disciplines of telecommunication and information that would help enable our citizens to benefit from ICT in the new Information Society.

Mr. Chairman:

A nation may dream to build a ubiquitous network society that will make possible easy connection anytime, anywhere, by anything and anyone. Or a nation may just dream to cover telephone service to every rural village. I am confident that, with your able guidance, this will be a successful conference, and that all the delegates will go back much more inspired and enabled to fulfill the dreams for their people.

In closing, I would like to convey that the Royal Government of Bhutan looks forward to a more dynamic ITU, one that is fully aware of and responsive to the real needs of and challenges faced by disadvantaged member states like Bhutan.

Thank you and Tashi Delek!