The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : BSNL executives step up protest, services hit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

BSNL executives step up protest, services hit

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, MARCH 22 . Landlines of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited turned quiet and the utility value of private mobile services went up as BSNL executives intensified their work-to-rule protest today, disrupting telecom services across the State.

One of the common complaints by subscribers of private operators, be it Airtel, Aircel or Reliance, was the difficulties, especially the time taken, to put their calls through to BSNL landlines and mobile phones.

The intermittent clogging of the points of interchange (POIs), nodes that allow traffic from the private network to that of BSNL, had its impact on long distance calls and the business of public booths too.

While the flow of traffic between the private networks was smooth, much of the telecom traffic from the mobile services is to BSNL phones.

"Almost 60 per cent of our calls terminate in the BSNL network," M.A. Madhusudan, Chief Operating Officer (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) of Tata Teleservices Limited, told The Hindu .

Noting that the connection at various points (PoIs) was erratic, he said the situation was not comfortable, making the company take up the issue before BSNL today. Chennai, Kumbakonam and Thanjavur were some of the locations where the services of Tata Teleservices were severely affected. The company, he said, was yet to assess the loss of revenue because of the disruptions. The BSNL executives launched their agitation on March 15.

`Loss mind-boggling'

The Chief General Manager of Chennai Telephones, K.B. Brahmadathan, said the loss of revenue for the telecom service providers would be a "mind-boggling figure."

Admitting that the private operators were complaining to BSNL, he said several BSNL customers affected by the strike were also contemplating surrendering their connections.

On BSNL initiatives to rectify the faults, which caused the disruption, he said: The problem of the network getting congested, however, was restricted to pockets and prevailed only for some time.

K. Sridhara, Chief General Manager of the BSNL Tamilnadu Telecom Circle, denied that the disruptions were largescale. Noting that subscriber complaints were received from Vellore and Tirunelveli, he said "none of the (telecom) circuits was fully down. Even during normal times, some of the PoIs turn faulty."

The challenge to BSNL, the officials hinted, was in utilising the available manpower efficiently. Denying sabotage of the network by the agitating executives, R. Chakrapani, press secretary of the United Forum for BSNL Executives, said the work-to-rule stir had intensified since Monday. Though the executives attended office, their work slowed down, resulting in more time to rectify the glitches in the network. Telecom services were affected in Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Erode in the State, besides Pondicherry, he said.

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