Jamshedpur, April 11: Simultaneous breakdown of the optical fibre transmission link between Ranchi and Tamar along NH 33 and at Kharagpur in West Bengal left Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) subscribers in three districts ? East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan ? in the lurch for the second consecutive day today.

Thousands of BSNL subscribers ? of both Excel (pre-paid) and CellOne (post-paid) ? had a harrowing time due to intermittent network failure. According to sources in BSNL, about 38,000 subscribers were affected by the breakdown, which started last evening.

Though efforts were made by BSNL authorities to detect the fault in the transmission link, normal services could be restored only in the evening and that, too, partially. Those engaged in share-trading and other related businesses were the worst hit.

General manager (mobile) of the Jharkhand circle, Biswajeet Pal, said mobile services were disrupted due to the breakdown of the transmission link on NH 33 and at Kharagpur. ?Our engineers have been pressed into service in Tamar while technicians from BSNL?s West Bengal circle have rushed to Kharagpur,? he added.

Both pre-paid and post-paid subscribers complained of poor connectivity since last evening. There are about 38,000 subscribers (pre-paid 27,600 and post-paid 10,100) in the three districts which fall in the Jamshedpur Secondary Switching Area (SSA).

Some of the subscribers told The Telegraph that the local BSNL authorities failed to provide satisfactory answers when contacted.

This is the second time in two months that BSNL?s cellular phone subscribers had to face a harrowing time due to network failure. They had to face a similar situation in the first week of March after optical fibre cables near Bundu on NH 33 were stolen by thieves. BSNL had to incur a loss of about Rs 80,000.

Local BSNL sources said congestion in the network led to the breakdown of the transmission system. Against a capacity of 20,000, the company had issued about 38,000 mobile connections in the three districts underJamshedpur SSA.

The state-owned telecom company has plans to widen its cellular base throughout the state. As part of its expansion programme, BSNL had decided to provide about 20,000 new pre-paid connections in Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan by the end of this month.

Sources in the Jharkhand circle, however, said new connections will not be provided till May as the process of installation of base transmission stations will take more time.