A girl talks on her mobile phone in front of a CellOne hoarding. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

March 30: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd?s (BSNL) decision to provide 3,000 new CellOne connections in the city has sparked concern among its existing subscriber base.

The Guwahati Telephone Users? Association said subscribers were worried that more connections would add to network congestion.

An office-bearer of the association said BSNL should improve its CellOne service before giving new connections. ?There has been no improvement despite our repeated pleas and increasing competition from private service providers.?

He said BSNL appeared to have taken the decision in a hurry in the wake of the arrival of Airtel, one of the leading private cellular service providers in the country.

Airtel has already opened shop in the city and intends to provide 10,000 connections before Rongali Bihu.

?God knows what will happen after BSNL gives another 3,000 connections. It will be a waste of money. I think I will switch over to Airtel immediately,? said Merry Saikia, a doctor.

Saikia said only 20 per cent of her calls were getting through.

But BSNL?s general manager (mobile) for the Assam circle, A.K. Bhattacharyya, allaying the fears of subscribers. He said the number of base transmission stations in Guwahati had been increased to accommodate new mobile connections.

?I appreciate the customers? apprehensions since CellOne services have not met their expectations in recent months. But we have initiated steps to solve the problem of network congestion,? he said.

Bhattacharyya said the new connections were being given on an experimental basis to check whether the initiatives taken so far had improved the network system.

?We will soon announce the steps we have taken to improve our service and our future plans,? he added.

BSNL has more that 40,000 customers with 11 base transmission stations in the city. It had planned to set up 25 new stations to increase the customer base to 50,000 by December 31 last year, but could not meet the deadline because of various reasons, a source said. April 30 is its new deadline.

The majority of the new base stations are being set up in commercial localities such as Pan Bazar, Fancy Bazar, Adabari, Lakhtokia, Paltan Bazar, Ganeshguri and Dispur since network congestion in these areas has been found to be the highest.