There is an efficient telecommunication system in Bhutan that will allow you to fax and have international dialing facilities in almost all the hotels and accommodation units where you will put up in Bhutan. You may even be able to connect to Internet at some places but this facility is not available everywhere. The satellite earth station at Thimphu was installed in 1990 along with sophisticated international telephone service systems. This has greatly helped in connecting quickly via direct dial call facilities and to clear the quality of sound on the phone. Posts and mails can be sent from hotels and post offices in any city at Bhutan and mailing service in Bhutan is quite reliable.
DHL provides competent courier service to and from Bhutan, so you can easily send or receive packaged items and envelopes through it. Bhutan Information Communications & Media Authority (BICMA) is the regulatory body for Communications services in Bhutan, which was established under the Ministry of Communications in January 2000. It regulates and facilitates the development of the Bhutanese communications and media sector. In general, domestic telecommunications facilities are quite poor, especially in rural areas and there is very low tele-density in the country. Wireless services are available nowadays, though. Use of Internet is still very limited. A government-run newspaper called ‘The Kuensel’ circulates biweekly in Dzongkha, English and Nepali.
‘The Bhutan Times’ is the Bhutan's only privately owned newspaper. In 1973, Bhutan Broadcasting Service was established as a radio service. Nation-wide, it broadcasts in short wave nationally and is on the FM band only in Thimphu. Television broadcasts started as late as in 1999 that made Bhutan the last country in the world to introduce television. Cable television was introduced soon after that. Media people in Bhutan receive short-term journalism training from Britain, The Netherlands, India and Singapore. Bhutanese lama Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche is a well-known filmmaker of Bhutan. He is known for producing and directing ‘The Cup’, which was shot in a Tibetan monastery in northern India and ‘Travellers and Magicians’, which was the first feature film to be filmed entirely in Bhutan. It is also known for using no professional actors and a cast that had only Bhutanese people.
