India increases Bhutan’s digital connectivity
New Delhi: India’s National Informatics Centre-managed National Knowledge Network, multi-gigabit national research, and education network, has increased Bhutan’s digital connectivity.
The Network, which offers a unified high-speed network backbone for educational and research institutions, has increased Internet bandwidth from its previous 1 GBPS to 5 GBPS to Bhutan to complement Digital Drukyul, the Royal Government of Bhutan’s flagship program under the 12th Five-Year Plan. This is besides the funding of Nu 1.98 billion India has provided.
They extended the additional bandwidth following a request from the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Druk Research and Education Network, and other organizations in the Himalayan country, officials said.
It will cover over 600 schools and 38 higher educational institutions in Bhutan, benefiting over 10,000 people enrolled in 85 educational and medical institutions.
The connectivity link will help Bhutan’s efforts to provide effective distance learning by enabling virtual classrooms and hospitals to extend telemedicine services through remote patient diagnosis and treatment and will improve access for Bhutanese youth to international research and educational content.
Indian Ambassador to Bhutan Ruchira Kamboj said digital connectivity is an essential tool for the Covid-19 response as it makes distance learning, remote working, and e-medicine possible.
“The Government of #India is pleased to provide increased internet connectivity to #Bhutan providing immediate benefits of distance education and telemedicine across the Kingdom. This effectively complements the domestic ‘Digital Bhutan’ Programme,” she tweeted.
In August 2019, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to Bhutan, the two countries signed an agreement for a 1 GBPS link between Bhutan’s DRUK Research and Education Network and India’s National Knowledge Network.
The National Knowledge Network links over 1,711 institutions and 50 million students in India, as well as SingAREN (Singapore), NORDUnet (Nordic countries), Internet2 (USA), GEANT (Europe), TIEN4, and Asi@connect, among other international educational users.
(Venkatesh)
