The Hindu : Kerala News : IVRS trunk booking runs into rough weather

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 31, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

IVRS trunk booking runs into rough weather

By Abdul Latheef Naha

KOCHI, MAY 30. The recently introduced automated trunk call booking system appears to have run into rough weather with the employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) opposing the move. Automated interactive voice response system (IVRS), which has replaced the conventional manual booking of trunk calls, is not consumer-friendly, according to the BSNL employees.

But BSNL officials countered the allegation by flaunting the number of trunk calls made before and after the introduction of IVRS trunk booking. The figures show that there has been an increase in the number of trunk calls since the facility was introduced in the Ernakulam secondary switching area on May 19.

Before the introduction of IVRS, an average of 410 ISD trunk calls used to be made in Ernakulam a day. After its introduction, this number has gone up to 450. If the number of STD trunk calls made a day was 110 on an average, now it has risen to 200. Quoting these figures, the BSNL officials claimed that the facility had begun to click.

However, employees owing allegiance to the BSNL Employees Union and the National Union of BSNL Workers pointed out that the efficiency of the trunk exchange has drastically come down from 95 per cent to 50 per cent in the last 10 days. They also alleged that about 50 per cent of the trunk calls booked through IVRS get cancelled without the caller knowing about it.

K.V. Jose, district president of the National Union of BSNL Workers, said that most of the subscribers using trunk calls were not IVRS literate. They often fail to follow the recorded instructions or do it on time, resulting in disconnection or cancellation of the call, he pointed out.

The BSNL officials had an answer to this. The IVRS booking facility can automatically direct the call to an operator if the caller fails in his three consecutive attempts.

A caller who does not know the code of his destination is likely to find it tough with IVRS. "But, it is just a matter of getting used to. IVRS is the order of the day. Institutions like banks and railways have all resorted to IVRS," said a BSNL official who refused to be quoted.

BSNL authorities pointed out that trunk calls had become faster with the introduction of IVRS, though the system has a disadvantage of a call getting cancelled after some time. Once a call is booked on IVRS, the system automatically dials the number to be connected. If the line is not through, then the system attempts again after every seven minutes. But the call gets cancelled after four such attempts. The BSNL officials said they have not got any complaint from the public so far.

The other shortcomings of IVRS trunk booking, according to the BSNL employees, are that the system has no facilities such as standby arrangement, particular person (PP) call and automatic time-limit cut-off. The officials said the PP call facility was removed as there was only an insignificant number of such calls. "Assigning a few hands exclusively for PP call is found to be not a good option," they said.

Earlier, an operator used to ask the caller whether he should continue the call or not after the stipulated time. Now, the callers are tempted to talk more, with no operator interfering to remind them of the time limit. Mr. Jose said that the caller might not take note of the beep sound that comes after three minutes.

Apart from Ernakulam, IVRS trunk booking facility is available in Alappuzha, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. Some government offices and those without STD-ISD facility are still banking on trunk calls to reach distant places.

As many as 12 subscribers can book a trunk call simultaneously by dialling 180. Eight STD and ISD calls each can be made at the same time in the IVRS facility. The BSNL officials also sought to allay the fears of the employees by confirming that there would be no retrenchment because of the new technology.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala