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Compliance Best Practices Guide in Bhutan

The Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority (BICMA) has shared its experiences and strategies for ensuring compliance with national and international standards, promoting regulatory excellence, and best practices in the telecommunications sector.

Responsibilities of BICMA

As an ICT regulator, BICMA is responsible for:

  • Licensing, certification, and granting permits of ICT facilities and services
  • Prescribing and regulating compliance with national and international codes and standards related to ICT services
  • Regulating interconnection or sharing of infrastructure and facilities between or among ICT facility providers
  • Maintaining and promoting healthy competition within the ICT industry
  • Planning, administering, managing, and assigning radio spectrum for ICT services
  • Ensuring universal access to all ICT services at affordable rates

Rules and Regulations Adopted by BICMA

To achieve its objectives, BICMA has adopted several rules and regulations, including:

  • Provision of ICT facilities and ICT services
  • ICT infrastructure sharing
  • ICT type approval
  • Consumer protection code for ICT and media services
  • Universal service fund
  • National numbering plan
  • Radio spectrum allocation

Monitoring Quality of Service (QoS)

BICMA monitors and measures the QoS of mobile services in the country, using key performance indicator (KPI) parameters such as:

  • Call drop rate
  • Call setup time
  • HTTP and FTP data download/upload throughput
  • Latency

According to BICMA’s latest report, Bhutan’s mobile voice service has a call drop rate of 2%, with an average call setup time of 7 seconds.

5G Deployment

BICMA has established a regulatory framework for 5G technology, which includes three usage scenarios:

  • Enhanced mobile broadband (“eMBB”)
  • Ultra-reliable and low latency communications (“uRLLC”)
  • Massive internet of things (mIOT)

Currently, 5G services have been deployed in major district centers in the country.

Universal Communication Access Program

The authority is working to ensure universal communication access program, with a goal of achieving 100% mobile coverage of rural households. To achieve this objective, BICMA has:

  • Carried out drive tests along national primary and secondary highways
  • Collaborated with telecom operators in building mobile stations along these routes
  • Constantly monitors mobile signal strength and certain mobile quality of services

Future Plans

Looking ahead, BICMA plans to prioritize:

  • EMF certification of radio stations/communication towers in densely populated areas
  • Achieving 100% mobile coverage of rural households through the universal communication access program
  • Reducing domestic communication tariffs by 30%
  • Monitoring and complying with mobile QoS in other thromdes and few selected satellite downs
  • Implementing other parameters of mobile QoS like latency, speed test, and video streaming test to assess actual mobile QoS

Conclusion

By sharing its best practices and strategies, BICMA aims to promote regulatory excellence and ensure a robust telecommunications sector that benefits the people of Bhutan.