December 09, 2007	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 28, 1428

PESHAWAR, Dec 8: PTCL subscribers in Peshawar are experiencing great difficulty in accessing cellular companies’ telephone numbers from their land-based telephones. Complaints of non-connectivity with cell-phone numbers from land-based PTCL telephones went up to unprecedented level since the recent announcement of a special package for subscribers by the PTCL management.

The problem of non-connectivity was not related to any particular cell-phone company, as a large number of PTCL subscribers told Dawn that they were experiencing the problem with all cell companies’ numbers round the clock.

Representatives of some private mobile telephone companies told Dawn that initially they faced the problem for two to three hours a day, but it kept on increasing with each passing day and it was getting very difficult now to connect a mobile telephone with PTCL sets.

The people working in several financial organisations, newspapers and various shopping centres were the worst hit.

They were found complaining against the non-connectivity problem as they had to face problems in performing their duties or doing their businesses.

When contacted, a senior manager of the Switch Room Department of the PTCL, Shahid Latif, said that due to some technical reasons, some lines had become ‘choked’, but the problem had been ‘resolved immediately.’

However, the situation had not improved till the filing of this report.