The Hindu : Network snag cripples MTNL cellphone service

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 13, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Network snag cripples MTNL cellphone service

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 12. Thousands of cellular phone subscribers of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) had a tough time today as the company's network remained affected in most part of the Capital leaving subscribers high and dry.

The MTNL subscribers of both post-paid service "Dolphin" and pre-paid service "Trump" were unable to make or receive calls thus virtually remaining "disconnected" throughout the day.

Subscribers in almost the entire city complained of missing telecom signals on their handsets. They even failed to receive and deliver SMS (short messaging service).

The most affected areas of the Capital included RK Puram, Defence Colony, South Extension, Lajpat Nagar, Green Park, Vikas Marg, Connaught Place, Daryaganj, ITO, Chandni Chowk, Dwarka, Janakpuri, Shahdara, Rohini and Karol Bagh.

The MTNL's call centres remained flooded with complaints throughout the day. Initially even the call centre operators knew nothing about the snag in the system, but then they started giving evasive answers to hassled subscribers stating that their might be some congestion in the network for a brief moment or a particular area was facing some technical problem.

"It was only after our much persuasion that they accepted that there was some serious problem in the MTNL network leading to subscribers facing serious problem in connectivity. The problem in the network began in the morning, and even till late in the evening, there were no signs of problem getting sorted out," complained hapless MTNL subscribers.

"When other private cellular phone operators were upgrading their network to improve quality of service and give more value added services, MTNL still lags behind and there are no efforts no improve their services. Ironically, even MTNL's fault repair mechanism is not in place and one has to wait for hours to get complaints registered. MTNL's unprofessional approach is the main reason behind their not being a frontrunner in the cellular phone market despite having an elaborate telecom infrastructure in the Capital," they added.

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