Microsoft, Gen Pac and others have expressed interest in setting up data centres and major BPOs. The government has roped in McKinsey, a consultancy firm, to see how Bhutan’s potential could be converted into opportunities.

There is also a preliminary proposal by some NASSCOM members for a world-class university in Bhutan, along the lines of Harvard and Stanford. Recently, top IT leaders from India visited Bhutan.

“The warm welcome, political stability, clean environment, cheap power and upcoming accessibility with domestic airports have been noted as plus points and they’ll be getting back to us soon” said the minister of information and communication Lyonpo Nandlal Rai.

Director of information technology Tenzin Choeda said, “There are no fixed guarantees right now, but many doors have been opened for us.”

“Microsoft expressed interest to help Bhutan in terms of education and possibly to set up data centres,” he said.

Microsoft has a lot of IT curricula, which it’s willing to share with schools in Bhutan. Due to the high cost, many people in Bhutan go for pirated software, which is not reliable, vulnerable to viruses and cannot be fixed.

“The Microsoft Chairman for India, Mr Ravi, is offering different packages for office use, home use and schools at reasonable rates,” said an official, adding that the chairman has committed that India will be responsible to Bhutan for IT solutions.

“The chairman also said that they were willing to adapt Dzongkha script, currently restricted to Linux system, into Microsoft systems,” said Tenzin Choeda.

The director said that, apart from Microsoft, other companies had also expressed interest in setting up data centres, because of the clean environment and cheap electricity.

Data centres are large computers, which require large amounts of electricity and a safe location. “Many of these companies also want to be seen as using green power.”

Tenzin Choeda said that McKinsey has been invited to look at Bhutan for advice on developing a strategic framework to go forward, in terms of converting the potential they have recognized, like in the ICT sector, into opportunities. He said, once it was recognized, ten global companies could start coming in.

Gen Pac, which is a major BPO player in India, has expressed the most interest in setting up an operation base in Bhutan. Of the companies, the Gen Pac deal has a good chance of materalising, but they will have to look at the capability of the local Bhutanese, according to MOIC officials.

Two NASSCOM members, part of a larger consortium, expressed interest in setting up an international level University in Bhutan of Harvard and Stanford standards. They have already met with key officials in the government. Apart from that, NASSCOM President Som Mittal has agreed to market and promote Bhutan on its prestigious website. Narayana Murthy, who has already offered Bhutan 100 seats in his institution, has also asked officials to make proposals for Bhutan to the Ford Foundation and UN Foundation, both of which he is a board member.

The IT department meanwhile is working on its broadband master plan and said that international level connectivity could be set up for interested companies by mid 2009 as per an evolving deal with Tata Infocom.