[HCDX]: Fwd: Bhutan Web connection seen as boon

[Don Moore <mooredxer@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From the DEVMEDIA list...

Don Moore   mooredxer@xxxxxxxxx

--- "George(s) Lessard" <media@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:.
> To: DEVMEDIA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> [from ZDNet's ZDNN Tech News Now]
> 
> Web connection seen as boon for Bhutan
> 
> Government hopes Internet access will help foster growth
> in commerce and
> education.
> 
> 
> 
> By Reuters June 1, 1999 4:22 PM PT
> 
> THIMPHU, Bhutan -- The secluded Himalayan kingdom of
> Bhutan, a country
> without a road to the outside world 40 years ago, Tuesday
> logged onto the
> information super highway after a traditional Buddhist
> ceremony of monks'
> chants and auspicious offerings.
> 
> Queen Ashi Dorgi Wangmo Wangchuk hit a keyboard command
> releasing an
> image on terminal screens of unfolding scarves to open
> Druk Net --
> Bhutan's Internet service provider -- and sent an e-mail
> greeting to
> Bhutanese students and missions abroad.
> 
> Guests at the ceremony, including diplomats visiting to
> attend King
> Jigme Singye Wangchuk's silver jubilee celebrations
> Wednesday, were
> given a five ngultrum (12 U.S. cents) banknote, and a bag
> of fruit and
> nuts to foster an auspicious start for Bhutan's latest
> link with the
> outside world.
> 
> Bhutan's first domestic television broadcaster also goes
> on air
> Wednesday to coincide with celebrations of King Jigme
> Singye Wangchuk's 25
> years on the throne.
> 
> The advent of television and the Internet to this poor
> country, where per
> capita gross domestic product is just $520 per annum,
> mark the latest
> stage in King Jigme's policy of modernization. It comes a
> month after the
> country, which has one telephone line per 100 people,
> hooked up to a fully
> digitalized telephone network.
> 
> Internet hailed as boon for Bhutan
> 
> There has been a debate within Bhutan over the potential
> impact of
> television on a traditional agrarian society, steeped in
> Buddhist
> beliefs and locked away from the rest of the world by
> high mountains, but
> the king believed the people were ready.
> 
> 
> The decision earned him a new nickname: "His Majesty,
> Light of the Cyber
> Age."
> 
> "It seems now the timing is right for our society to
> welcome Internet and
> information technology given the progress made in
> information technology
> infrastructure and the education of our people," the
> queen, one of King
> Jigme's four wives, said in her inauguration speech.
> 
> Druk Net was a collaboration between Bhutan, the United
> Nations
> Development Program and the Canadian-based International
> Development
> Research Center.
> 
> Ministry of Communications officials hope Bhutan will
> have up to 500
> Internet users by year-end, with access available from
> all parts of this
> mountainous country of 700,000 people.
> 
> The government hopes this will promote commerce and
> education and help a
> policy of decentralization so that faster decision-making
> can be done at
> the local level.
> 
> The Web site for Druk Net is
> Http://www.druknet.net.bt
> and there is an
> information site on
> http://www.nic.bt
> 
> 
>
http://www5.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2268577,00.html?chkpt=h
> pqs014
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :-) Message ends, Signature begins (-:
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> Proverb
> George Lessard in Inuvik (68.3 N, 133.48 W) Northwest
> Territories, Canada.
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===
Don Moore     mooredxer@xxxxxxxxx
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