The Hindu : New Delhi News : MTNL fails to meet deadline again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

MTNL fails to meet deadline again

By Sandeep Joshi

NEW DELHI, OCT. 15. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) has once again failed to keep up with the cut-throat competition in the Capital's mobile phone market. The State-owned telecom company, which was supposed to launch the much-publicised expansion of its cellular phone network today, has once again postponed introduction of two lakh new mobile connections as its work on network upgradation and other technical specifications is yet to be completed.

It was on the Gandhi Jayanti Day earlier this month that senior MTNL officials had announced that phase-I of its expansion project that involves introduction of two lakh new lines would be launched on October 15. They also said that within a month, phase-II of the project involving another two lakh lines would also be introduced. But it seems that it might take a few more weeks before the MTNL completes phase-I and launches two lakh new mobile connections.

For almost a year now, senior MTNL officials have been speaking of introducing four lakh new mobile connections to meet the ever-increasing demand in the Capital. They have also been stating that not only would the existing network be upgraded, but the entire infrastructure to support new lines would also be built using state-of-the-art technology.

For the record, trial and testing on the new network has been going on for the past few weeks. The MTNL has also given around 100 connections of the new network to its officials for test purposes. These new connections have also aided in streamlining the new network and ascertain if there were any problems. But so far officials have faced no problems. However, it was early this week that almost all the existing 2.25 lakh mobile connections faced major connectivity problem as the main server developed a snag. MTNL sources said the problem had occurred as their computerised system retrieved an old SMS and forwarded it to all its subscribers, choking the network and also affecting the main server. This also hit the streamlining and testing work of the new network.

Keeping this in mind, the MTNL officials decided to postpone the launch by a few days and ensure that everything was in order. During phase-I, MTNL will start its new exchange in Tis Hazari to support the new connections, while the Shakti Nagar exchange will be opened in phase-II. In the new additions, the MTNL will be introducing efficient and reliable Chinese technology -- HUAWI -- while other equipments and technical support is being provided by global equipment manufacturer Motorola.

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