WLL connections for dead phones

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 8. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Delhi, is planning to give WLL (wireless in local loop) connections to all subscribers in the Capital whose telephones had been lying non- functional for over a month.

The Chief General Manager of MTNL Delhi, Mr. K.H. Khan, said today that the major problem areas were Karol Bagh, Okhla and industrial areas where special teams have been pressed into action to rectify faults. ``In these areas we have already given a few WLL connections to subscribers,'' he added.

Mr. Khan, who was talking to presspersons after inaugurating a media centre at Khurshid Lal Bhawan here, said the MTNL had set up a 1,000-line telephone exchange at Jamia Milia Islamia and efforts were on to upgrade other exchanges.

He said at present 275 underground cables were lying ``dead'' leaving 12,544 phones non-functional which included 3,100 connections in Karol Bagh alone. ``Between May and July this year, 6,176 cables developed a snag affecting around three lakh subscribers in the Capital,'' he said.

Reacting to the steep rise in cases of cable faults since last year, Mr. Khan said in June last year, 1,688 cables developed snags affecting over a lakh subscribers, but during the same period this year, this number rose to 1,949 leaving 1,57,037 telephones non-functional.

``The main reason behind the steep increase in cases of faults is the number of infrastructural projects going on in the Capital. A lot of digging work is taking place at construction sites of Metro Railway, flyovers and subways where underground cables are often damaged. Besides seepage during monsoon aggravates the problem,'' said Mr. Khan.

Talking about MTNL's ``Dolphin'' cellular service, he said at present there were around 11,000 subscribers of which 1,500 were added after the rentals were slashed in June this year. Stating that the services were picking up fast and subscriber base increasing, Mr. Khan said the MTNL had appointed seven franchises for proper marketing of ``Dolphin''.

Mr. Khan said that for roaming facilities, the MTNL had already signed agreements with Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Kerala and soon 15 more States would be joining this league.

The media centre has been opened for the benefit of mediapersons. To be run under the Public Relations Officer (Media), Ms. Sushma Talwar, it will provide latest information on the status of departmental services, organisational details of the MTNL and other technical details for the convenience of scribes.

Equipped with an Internet kiosk, every information about the department can now be accessed by clicking the mouse. Besides, other multi-media and communication facilities can also be availed of. ``A few more facilities will soon be added to the centre,'' informed Ms. Talwar.

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