NORTH LAKHIMPUR, Oct 7 - Poor, erratic and inept service by the State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in North Lakhimpur has been affecting its customers in a big way since the last several months and virtually paralysing the Digital India campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The little said the better about BSNL�s broadband internet and mobile data service, which remains out of order for several days at regular intervals. On September last, the broadband and mobile data services of BSNL were disrupted for 10 days. Non-availability of internet service by the public sector BSNL usually occurs on holidays or a day before the night of holidays, thereby sleeping over the complaints, which remain unattended.
The problems are usually solved in the forenoon of the weekday after the holiday when the personnel of the department resume work. When contacted, the concerned officials tendered the usual answer, i.e., downing of the server. During the Durga Puja, the broadband and mobile data services of BSNL here went down on September 28 evening and remained out of service till October 1. Again on October 2, which was a holiday, the mobile data service of BSNL went down throughout the day and returned quite erratically on October 3.
This type of irregular service by BSNL has been affecting thousands of its subscribers here in multiple ways. Cyber caf� operators, e-kiosks, online banking, mediapersons and e-commerce users have been badly affected.
Apart from internet service, the GSM service of BSNL has also become very poor since quite sometime now. Even connectivity among fellow BSNL GSM cellular users has become problematic with call drops or no connection. Apart from district headquarter North Lakhimpur, BSNL�s service in other parts of Lakhimpur is also marked by very poor connectivity.
In Dhakuwakhona subdivision, Ghilamora, Bihpuria and Narayanpur, cellular and internet service of BSNL is very erratic. In the border areas of the district, the signals of BSNL are non-existent. All these have made most of its customers to switch over to other private operators. Many concerned customers are of the view that the BSNL officials have been allegedly in league with other cellular service companies to force customers to leave the State-owned company.
However, records say the public sector company has a very impressive infrastructure set up in Assam. In May this year, BSNL announced its decision to set up 2,000 mobile towers all over the State in order to boost connectivity. The major thrust was on improving connectivity in rural and border areas of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh at an approximate cost of Rs 2,000 crore.
BSNL has laid 7,287 km of optical fibre cables (OFC) in Assam as part of its elaborate plans under Digital India and Digital Assam programmes. All the Gram Panchayats in the State are supposed to be connected through OFC network within this financial year. In Tezpur Telecom District under which Lakhimpur district falls, there are 82 telephone exchanges for providing land and broadband services. It has been providing 2G and 3G services with 182 2G and 73 3G sites, of which 35 sites are in North Lakhimpur. The BSNL has upgraded 62 3G sites with higher bandwidth state-of-the-art technology to facilitate the customers to have 3G data at higher speed. To facilitate more coverage in rural areas, BSNL has planned 169 new 2G sites covering the entire telecom district.
However, despite all these arrangements, internet service in the State in general and in Lakhimpur district under Tezpur Telecom District in particular has remained very poor. According to the 2011 Census, Lakhimpur district has 86,234 (42.42%) mobile phone subscribers, while 3,071 (1.51%) are of landline service. But these numbers have increased significantly over the years.
Way back in July 7, 2010, BSNL introduced 3G mobile service in Tezpur Telecom District under which Lakhimpur falls along with Dhemaji, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Udalguri and Darrang districts. In the same year in September, BSNL introduced WI MAX internet service connected through WLL with a mobility of 10 km radius in this area. In December 2016, BSNL�s Tezpur Telecom District announced high-speed internet facilities in the tea garden areas and the Gaon Panchayats of its six revenue districts, including Lakhimpur to promote Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s Digital India Mission.
Erratic and disruptive nature of internet service by BSNL in Assam has always been blamed to the disturbance caused to OFCs passing through the Chicken�s Neck area of North Bengal. To mitigate this recurring problem, a need has been felt for linking undersea cable node at Cox�s Bazar in Bangladesh with the North East region. In this regard, the DoNER ministry has already requested the Department of Telecommunications to examine the feasibility in coordination and agreement with the Government of Bangladesh and Ministry of External Affairs.