MANGALORE: There is finally some cause for cheer for the more than 1,000 consumers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) under its Bykampady exchange who went without telephone services for the last one week.

The State-owned company has decided to provide a rebate in the rental for its consumers corresponding to the number of days for which they have been facing disruption in services owing to the ongoing work of making the section of National Highway 17 from B.C. Road to Surathkal four-lane.

Sources in the district unit of BSNL told The Hindu here that the consumers in Bykampady, Kulai, Honnakatte and Hosabettu were not able to use telephones or other value-added services provided by the company since June 2. The optical-fibre cable connecting these consumers to the Bykampady exchange had been damaged owing to the roadwork.

The sources said that according to company rules, BSNL would provide a rebate in the rental charged to consumers for a period corresponding to which it was not able to provide services to its users. Since the services had been disrupted for a week, the consumers would not have to pay the rental for this period. If the situation persisted for more than 15 days at a stretch, BSNL would waive the rental for the whole month, the sources said.

They said that BSNL regretted the inconvenience caused to consumers due to the disruption of services, and the decision to provide a rebate in the rental was a small gesture on the part of the company to its consumers for the problems they were facing.

However, no action would fully compensate consumers for the inconvenience caused to them on account of the disruption in services, the sources said. The situation had been caused by reasons that were beyond the company's control, they added.

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