When the name of Bhutan comes to our mind, IT and call center are perhaps among the last things that we associate with the country. However, Bhutanese government is now serious to change this image. Why not? After all, all its South Asian neighbors are trying to shine in Information Technology and outsourcing. India is already a super power in outsourcing. Bangladesh is exporting some softwares and this figure is increasing. Even Nepal, with its all political crisis and economical problems is pushing very aggressively to turn itself into an outsourcing hub. Why should Bhutan not take IT seriously? SO, Bhutan's government is now putting its hope on call center business. I read a very interesting article about it written by Kencho Wangdi titled, 'Call centres: will it work in Bhutan?'
Mr. Wangdi has written an excellent article and stated that Bhutan's government has allocated ' Nu. 15 million to promote call centres' in Bhutan. Department of Information Technology (DIT) of Ministry of Information and Communications is now giving all its efforts to turn Bhutan into a call center hub. Mr. Wangdi has talked about some obstacles and the major obstacles are:
High cost of Internet bandwidth
Shortage of skilled people in IT
Shortage of skilled people in English language
Of course, these are very tough hurdles to cross and I must say that it is an ambitious initiative taken by Bhutanese government but 25 years ago, when India started its journey everyone said the same thing. So, I am optimistic about Bhutan's prospect in Call Center after one decade or who knows success may come even sooner.
Thank you for your informative article.
This is really a praiseworthy initiative of Bhutan Government. They have realizeed the need of modern age. Though Mr. Wangdi indicated some obstacles towards achieving the goal, a long term planning can make their goal possible.
Posted by: Biplob Kishore Deb | May 7, 2006 6:40 AM | Permalink to Comment