On New Year’s Eve, B-mobile cellular users should not experience clogging when calling up near and dear ones to convey greetings or send text messages, say officials of Bhutan Telecom.

“We don’t expect network clogging during the New Year,� said the managing director of BT, Thinley Dorji. “Additional bass transceiver stations (BTS) were installed in the capital two weeks ago to improve connectivity.� In Thimphu’s core area, to the existing nine BTS, additional ones have been installed at Norzin Lam, Hongkong Market, Lungtenphug, above the hospital, Lower Motithang, above pension colony and Taba, BT officials said.

BT officials also said that signal black-outs in Tango and Cheri and the Thimphu-Dochula highway stretch would also be improved with two BTS being installed at Tashigang Gonpa and Begana. With another BTS at Wangchhutaba, officials said, the coverage in the peripheries of the capital would also improve as well.

At present, there are 143,000 subscribers nationwide, with the about 40 percent in the capital alone. Network clogging was most frequently experienced in the densely populated regions of Thimphu and Phuentsholing towns.

BT officials said that, apart from Thimphu, Phuentsholing and Samtse, the problem was not persistent in other dzongkhags.

In Samtse, officials said, with BTS capacity increased by 33 percent, the congestion has eased. In Phuentsholing, one BTS was installed in the town and another was underway in Dhamdara, with two more to come up covering the peripheries of Phuentsholing.

Capacity expansion was carried out in all the dzongkhags this year, and new service coverage in Khaling, Wamrong, Tendu, Sipsu, Chargharey, Pemaling and Bhur in Gelephu. Four months ago, one BTS was installed in Jakar and another in Chumey.

Last year, on New Year’s eve 124,583 SMS were exchanged by 82,000 cellular users nationwide in the hours leading to and past midnight.

While most B-mobile subscribers agree that network congestion has improved, some didn’t even register the improvement. “Oh, has it?� asked a high school student, Sonam.

Yeshey, 31, a corporate employee, said that not being able to send an SMS when your balance was less than Nu 10 was very annoying. “It’s weird as the SMS rate is only Nu 1.25,� he said.

However, BT officials are not aware of this problem. “To send international SMS, you need to have Nu 10 minimum balance,� said B-mobile’s general manager, Tandi Wangchuk. “But you should be able to send local SMS. We‘ll definitely look into this matter.�

Bandwidth to expand in leaps and bounds

WITH a February deadline to improve Internet connectivity, the Bhutan Telecom is working on an additional backbone link, that will more than triple the international bandwidth.

The additional backbone link on a fibre optic network will connect from Bhutan to LINKS (London Internet Exchange) through submarine cable landing port in Mumbai.

Bhutan Telecom signed an agreement with the Reliance fibre, India, in early November this year, through which Bhutan will get connected to LINKS.

The present bandwidth of 22 megabits per second will be expanded to 67 mbps through the fibre optic network connection, said officials.

“In about six months, the total Internet bandwidth on the international links will be increased by about six times than what we currently have, including the upgradation on one existing satellite link,� said Tshering Norbu, officiating general manager of Druknet.

According to Tshering Norbu, work on improving Internet connectivity took longer than they initially expected. “There were factors beyond our control, no matter how hard we tried to push to minimize their effects,� he said. “For instance, our partners and third parties do not move tasks as planned or agreed.�

“If we’re to continue with wire satellite services, it’ll be very expensive,� said the managing director, Thinley Dorji. Besides high speed connection is not viable through satellite in the long run,� he said, adding that, with the coming up of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), it would get even more difficult.

Officials say they could have also increased the satellite services and increased charges. “But that’s not acceptable to the customers, as they’re not willing to pay higher,� said the managing director. Source: Kuenselonline