Shillong, Feb. 5: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd today launched its CellOne services in the Meghalaya capital, promising to make it operational by March 31. There is also a lot of heartburn regarding the shift in policy by Reliance Mobile from the pre-paid to the post-paid system.
The inauguration of CellOne services coincides with the problems that have surfaced in Kohima and other parts of Nagaland involving CellOne users. But BSNL has overlooked criticism for failing to provide regular and smooth connectivity in Nagaland and other areas in the region.
Subscribers are fuming over the services, which have encountered technical snags since the day it was launched by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in October.
CellOne subscribers in Nagaland have criticised BSNL?s inability to live up to the promises it made during the launch. ?The BSNL is sending bills even when we have no connection or have not used it even once,? said a subscriber in Nagaland. This is a common complaint.
Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang said BSNL must provide excellent service to survive the stiff competition from Reliance and other cell service providers that may enter the market.
Criticising BSNL?s faulty billing system, Lapang sided with subscribers elsewhere who often crib about receiving bills for disconnected telephones and a tardy approach to repairing faulty lines.
BSNL sources said it would improve its services and connect all district headquarters of the region. Shillong telecom district chief general manager R. Purushottaman gave his assurance that services in the Northeast would improve and the problems would be sorted out.
Attributing the problems in Nagaland to the fact that enough base stations have not been commissioned, Purushottaman said under the present expansion plans of the BSNL, all the district headquarters in the Northeast would be connected through optical fibre cable network. He added that all the important national highways connecting Guwahati-Shillong, Shillong- Silchar, Silchar-Agartala and Silchar-Aizawl would be covered by CellOne services.
?We will start with four base stations in Shillong and provide 7,300 lines initially and follow it up with three more base stations and an additional 9,000 lines,? Purushottaman said, adding that base stations would also set up in the district headquarters ofJowai, Tura, Williamnagar, Baghmara, Nongpoh and Nongstoin. The BSNL official also hinted at plans to cover National Highway 40 connecting Shillong and Guwahati.