Agartala, Feb. 28: Hasty introduction of BSNL?s mobile telephone service in Tripura without creating proper infrastructure has created serious problems for the customers.

In order to pre-empt any serious competition from private parties like Reliance, the BSNL introduced its CellOne service in the state in March last year. At present, there are over 15,000 CellOne subscribers in Tripura.

But, at no given time, can more than 64 customers access the service simultaneously. Even if one more than that number tries to make a call the network gets congested, for there are not enough mobile towers, called base transmission stations (BTS).

As a result, connectivity remains out of reach of the subscribers for hours together everyday.

Apart from this, mechanical trouble in the mobile exchange, controlled from Kolkata, also causes sudden disconnection and inaudible reception.

Sources in the BSNL admitted to the problem and said to keep up the efficiency level of the service at least three hundred BTS towers needed to be set up encompassing the whole state.

?At the moment, we have only 83 towers which is woefully inadequate to cater to the needs of more than 15,000 users,? a BSNL officer said on conditions of anonymity.

Senior CPI (M) leader and party MP from West Tripura Khagen Das has also raised the issue of poor CellOne service. Das has already spoken to BSNL general manager T. Setumadhavan and taken up the issue several times in meetings of the Telephone Advisory Committee (TAC).

Following letters of complaint from a number of subscribers, the MP even informed the BSNL?s chief general manager, Northeast, in Shillong. But so far no action has been taken to improve the service.

Sources in the BSNL said efforts were being made by them to set up more BTS to improve connectivity and bring the entire state under the purview of mobile service.