This story is from November 4, 2006

Subscribers rue network jam

Yogima Seth / TNN / Nov 4, 2006, 02:10 IST

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The order to jam mobile networks to ensure smooth polling during municipal elections in Ghaziabad on Friday has proved an expensive excercise for service providers.

NEW DELHI: The order to jam mobile networks to ensure smooth polling during municipal elections in Ghaziabad on Friday has proved an expensive excercise for service providers.
An executive with a GSM service provider claimed that the nine-hour suspension meant that his company lost around 10% of the revenues coming from the NCR. Another operator estimated that the company lost at least 25-30% of its revenues from Ghaziabad.
The loss would have been higher had it not been for people going to Delhi and Noida to work. But a loss for the mobile firms also meant more business for landline operators like BSNL and Airtel, though numbers were unavailable.
With services disrupted, subscribers felt shortchanged. "Such disruption is not justified as mobile phones are no longer a luxury but a necessity for all.

Moreover, why should we as customers suffer due to ad-hoc orders like this which have no explanation?" said Rajesh Khanna, resident of Sahibabad in Ghaziabad district.
Mohit Chopra of Vasundhra said: "Why should subscribers suffer because of poor management of authorities who simply pass orders to jam mobile services either in the name of some examination or for elections."
Even operators were unhappy with the order. "Such orders result in unnecessary inconvenience to customers. It only

reflects the authorities' lack of understanding of the substantial impact on the customer due to such arbitrary actions," said an industry player who claims to have over 1.5 lakh customers in Ghaziabad region alone.
"It is incorrect to put the onus of ensuring smooth functioning of the state's duties on telecom operators. Controlling the use of unlawful means in examinations or rigging of elections is not the responsibility of telecom operators," the source added.
Even government officials felt that such orders add to the chaos in telecom. "It is easier for authorities to pass orders for suspension of network as they are not responsible for the revenue loss which adds up to several crores if calculated for all the cities in UP where services have been jammed over a period of time," said an official.

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