India has sent successful missions to Mars and the Moon, boasts of an ICT industry on a par with the best, and dreams of leapfrogging into the digital world; but still has about 12,000 applications waiting to get landline fixed-line connections from state-run BSNL.
This is nearly 23 years after telecom secretary N Vittal said India would have "telephone on demand". BSNL has cited two major reasons for the waiting list. The first: "Many areas are technically non-feasible, and due to unavailability of underground cable, it is not possible to provide landline connection."
This seems like an excuse given that 10,459, or 84%, of these applications are from urban areas. Also, official documents show that the 12,394 applications on the waiting list are not from regions affected by extremism like J&K or the Northeast but from BSNL's Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan circles.
On how many days of waiting puts an application on the list, a BSNL officer said: "From day one of the application, it becomes waiting, but we do not maintain a list showing for how many days as these are all in areas that are difficult to provide connections."
Worse, there many more cases where applications have simply closed. These applicants never get a connection.
VAN Namboodri, former national convener of the BSNL Joint Action Committee, says: "The problem exists in all four circles. We've been taking it up with the management regularly. After about two months, they just close application." Murali Mohan, principal general manager, BSNL, says: "There are concerns. You must understand that some of these areas aren't economically viable.But we refund the money to the customer."
Another reason is that laying cables is not economically viable because local bodies have right-of-way charges.Private players do not have a waiting list because they do not entertain applications from areas where they don't have cables or service.
United Forum of BSNL Unions and Associations convener CK Gundanna told TOI: "We've been consistently fighting off attempts to privatize telecom completely. Yes, there are these issues and they exist in all circles, but there are complex issues behind it which need to be worked out.Local bodies not cooperating is a major concern."
A sources in BSNL says the company is unable to match steep charges in several areas as the demand is not high enough.
This is nearly 23 years after telecom secretary N Vittal said India would have "telephone on demand". BSNL has cited two major reasons for the waiting list. The first: "Many areas are technically non-feasible, and due to unavailability of underground cable, it is not possible to provide landline connection."
This seems like an excuse given that 10,459, or 84%, of these applications are from urban areas. Also, official documents show that the 12,394 applications on the waiting list are not from regions affected by extremism like J&K or the Northeast but from BSNL's Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan circles.
On how many days of waiting puts an application on the list, a BSNL officer said: "From day one of the application, it becomes waiting, but we do not maintain a list showing for how many days as these are all in areas that are difficult to provide connections."
Worse, there many more cases where applications have simply closed. These applicants never get a connection.
VAN Namboodri, former national convener of the BSNL Joint Action Committee, says: "The problem exists in all four circles. We've been taking it up with the management regularly. After about two months, they just close application." Murali Mohan, principal general manager, BSNL, says: "There are concerns. You must understand that some of these areas aren't economically viable.But we refund the money to the customer."
Another reason is that laying cables is not economically viable because local bodies have right-of-way charges.Private players do not have a waiting list because they do not entertain applications from areas where they don't have cables or service.
United Forum of BSNL Unions and Associations convener CK Gundanna told TOI: "We've been consistently fighting off attempts to privatize telecom completely. Yes, there are these issues and they exist in all circles, but there are complex issues behind it which need to be worked out.Local bodies not cooperating is a major concern."
A sources in BSNL says the company is unable to match steep charges in several areas as the demand is not high enough.