Tower Of Talk: Bringing a remote gewog into the national mainstream

Remote Laya will be soon on the radar of the B-Mobile cellular network. Work is in progress and Bhutan Telecom officials said that the service would be activated within this month, August.

After numerous days of transporting material for the tower, most of the essential equipment has reached the gewog, said officials. “The service should be available within this month, within 10 days,” said a BT official. Officials involved in setting up the tower said that the service would have reached the gewog had they helped them transport the equipment. “We requested the gewog head to help us transport the equipment, but the response was quite poor,” said an official.

Meanwhile, Layaps are happy at the sight of the tower being erected. “Many villagers have already bought phones, sim cards and even recharge vouchers,” said a villager.

Dema, 72, from Lubcha village, said that she did not believe officials, when she first heard of the service coming to Laya. “I didn’t know what it was, and I told my children that it won’t reach during our lifetime,” she said. “I’m happy to hear that we can make telephone calls from our own homes,” she added.

The younger ones, who used their mobile phones only for listening to music and taking photographs, said that they were excited about the service. “It will help solve some of the problems our village has, like talking to our business partners in Punakha,” said Ugyen Dorji, 25, from Pazhi village.

Tobgyel, 23, who helped BT transport equipment, said that the service would reduce the distance between Laya and other parts of the country. “Communication is one of the biggest problem, since we’re landlocked and far from the rest of the country,” he said. Source: Kuenselonline