PANAJI:
The recent network outage across parts of North Goa has put the
spotlight back on Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's (BSNL) shoddy services,
something that even members of the Lok Sabha noticed on Wednesday.
Broadband services and phone lines were down along the Candolim-Baga belt, Bambolim, Porvorim and Mapusa after a rival telecom company dug up BSNL cables and allegedly cut them while laying their own lines, prompting BSNL to lodge a complaint against the culprits at Porvorim police station.
"We have put clear signs to indicate where our cables are," a BSNL network engineer said, adding, "They don't inform us when they are digging... we would have deputed our engineer otherwise."
This is not the first instance where BSNL services have crashed and neither is this an inadvertent mistake, BSNL senior officials stated on condition of anonymity. BSNL sources argued that there have been clear instances of sabotage where cables are regularly cut or towers tampered with barely days after maintenance work has been completed.
"BSNL is never given permission to lay new towers but private companies seem to be getting permission," a senior BSNL official said, adding, "It is almost as if the government doesn't want BSNL to work."
BSNL officials also stated that there appeared to be intentional efforts to jeopardize BSNL operations. Recently, the state-run telecom powerhouse introduced unlimited free calls for landline customers to all landlines and cellphones across the country between 9pm and 7am. Chairman and managing director of BSNL Anupam Shrivastava said that the move was aimed at checking the deteriorating number of landline customers and countering the growing popularity of mobile phones.
In order to boost fixed line users, basic infrastructure-like cables and instruments are missing. "We have no equipment, our instruments are old, cables are old and we have to keep calling Mumbai and Delhi for everything," a local official in charge of new connections said.
BJP and Lok Sabha member Sanjay Dhotre came down heavily on BSNL for "poor" services across the country going to the extent of asking whether some BSNL employees were working for private operators.
Dear readers, please share your views and opinions about these new attractive offers by BSNL via comments with us. Join us on Facebook
Broadband services and phone lines were down along the Candolim-Baga belt, Bambolim, Porvorim and Mapusa after a rival telecom company dug up BSNL cables and allegedly cut them while laying their own lines, prompting BSNL to lodge a complaint against the culprits at Porvorim police station.
"We have put clear signs to indicate where our cables are," a BSNL network engineer said, adding, "They don't inform us when they are digging... we would have deputed our engineer otherwise."
This is not the first instance where BSNL services have crashed and neither is this an inadvertent mistake, BSNL senior officials stated on condition of anonymity. BSNL sources argued that there have been clear instances of sabotage where cables are regularly cut or towers tampered with barely days after maintenance work has been completed.
"BSNL is never given permission to lay new towers but private companies seem to be getting permission," a senior BSNL official said, adding, "It is almost as if the government doesn't want BSNL to work."
BSNL officials also stated that there appeared to be intentional efforts to jeopardize BSNL operations. Recently, the state-run telecom powerhouse introduced unlimited free calls for landline customers to all landlines and cellphones across the country between 9pm and 7am. Chairman and managing director of BSNL Anupam Shrivastava said that the move was aimed at checking the deteriorating number of landline customers and countering the growing popularity of mobile phones.
In order to boost fixed line users, basic infrastructure-like cables and instruments are missing. "We have no equipment, our instruments are old, cables are old and we have to keep calling Mumbai and Delhi for everything," a local official in charge of new connections said.
BJP and Lok Sabha member Sanjay Dhotre came down heavily on BSNL for "poor" services across the country going to the extent of asking whether some BSNL employees were working for private operators.
Dear readers, please share your views and opinions about these new attractive offers by BSNL via comments with us. Join us on Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment