Telecommunications in Bhutan

• Telephones - main lines in use in Bhutan: 29,900 (2007)
• Telephones - mobile cellular: 149,400 (2007)

• Telephone system:
  • general assessment: urban towns and district headquarters have telecommunications services
  • domestic: very low teledensity; domestic service is very poor especially in rural areas; wireless service available since 2003
  • international: country code - 975; international telephone and telegraph service via landline and microwave relay through India; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (2007)

• Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 9, shortwave 1 (1997) Satellite radio services carrying major foreign stations (BBC, CNN etc.) are accessible.
• Radios: 37,000 (1997)
• Television broadcast stations: 1 (2007). Cable TV is readily and cheaply available in the larger centres, carrying the Indian HBO, Zee and Star networks. The Bhutan Broadcasting Service first commenced television transmissions in June 1999, one of the last countries in the world to do so.
• Televisions: 11,000 (1999)
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs): Bhutan's main and only ISP is Druknet, owned by Bhutan Telecom. It provides a dial-up service, at a reasonable cost. Despite the ISP's excellent anti-virus software, subscribers are frequently targets for virus attacks from outside the country. Most government offices have Internet access but its use by public servants is restricted to an hour or two a day. There are Internet cafes in most large towns.
• Internet hosts: 9,046 (2008)
• Internet users: 40,000 (2007)
• Country codes: Bhutan +975 Phuentsholing (0)1 Thimphu (0)2 Bumthang (0)3 Paro (0)8

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook. 2009.

External links

• Wireless Voice/Data Communication in Remote Bhutan