BSNL's landline customer base falls

The BSNL's Orissa circle has registered a significant drop of more than one lakh customers for its landline service in last one year. The officials of the state owned service provider attributed the decline in the customer base to increasingly mobile penetration in the state and poor service delivery.

According to the reports of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India the number of wire line subscribers in the circle with BSNL in January ,2011 was 5,56,851while in December the customer base plunged to 4,56,115, a disconnection of 1,00,736 customers.

“We are lacking in providing services to the customers. Spurt in construction activities in the state undertaken by various state run authorities has increased the frequency of cable cuts and it has become extremely difficult to provide services”, said Pradeep Kumar Hota, General Manager, Telecom District, Bhubaneswar.

He said increased mobile phone penetration in the state has defueled the growth of wire line customers.

The state run telecom provider has stepped up its efforts to retain the old customers.Hota said that BSNL is taking the restoration of cable cuts on war footing, besides opening of remote switch units (RSUs) to provide quality services to the land line customers.