Guwahati, Dec. 13: Confusion prevails among Reliance 2G consumers in Assam after the service was stopped on Saturday without “proper intimation” to the subscribers.

Jiban Dutta, a user of Reliance 2G service from 2012, was surprised that his mobile phone network disappeared on Saturday morning. 

“When I walked into a Reliance store to enquire, they told me that the 2G service has been stopped. They told the company had sent text messages to all the consumers but I have not received any message yet. They are asking me to convert to 3G or switch over to Vodafone 2G. I don’t want to use the 3G as it’s expensive,” said Dutta. 
However, his friend, Jiban Narah, a security guard, received a text message yesterday, but is unable to convert to Vodafone yet as suggested in the message.

“I had dialled the number sent in the text message to convert to Vodafone 2G. But my mobile phone network has not yet been restored,” Narah said.

An official of Reliance’s Assam circle, when asked by The Telegraph, claimed that they had sent a text messages to all 2G subscribers informing them to either convert to Vodafone or switch over to Reliance 3G services. 

“It could be a technical problem as we are experiencing congestion of network due to conversion from 2G to 3G in Assam, Bengal and Bihar circles. We hope to overcome the problem within the next couple of days,” the official in Reliance’s marketing department here, requesting anonymity, said. 

There are about 13 lakh Reliance 2G subscribers in the Assam circle at present.

The telecom company had to stop the service from Saturday as it did not win back the 2G airwaves in the three circles during the spectrum auction in March this year. 

Accordingly, to tide over potential 2G coverage challenges in these markets, post-December 12, the company inked an intra-circle roaming pact with Vodafone India for 2G and 3G coverage in the three circles. 

The company claimed to have informed all the 2G subscribers about the conversion via text messages. But the non-receipt of messages to many consumers has left them angry. 

Junu Borah, a homemaker in Tinsukia in Upper Assam, uses a pre-paid Reliance mobile connection. She said two days ago the network disappeared from her cell phone and since then she was unable to either make or receive calls. 

“I have neither received any call nor any message from Reliance Mobile. For the past two days, I am facing a lot of inconvenience and I don’t know what will happen as I am yet to get Vodafone network on my phone,” she said.