20,000 phones still inoperative in Barisal
Our Correspondent, Barisal
About 20,000 telephones are still inoperative in Barisal since the Digital T&T Exchange went out of order on December 15 due to mechanical faults.The 5,000-line digital exchange set up in 1997 by Italian company Iteltal went out of order as the its central processing unit (CPU) was damaged. The authorities somehow made about 3,000 telephone lines operative. The rest can not be made operative unless the CPU is changed, officials said earlier. CPU made in the Italy is not available in Bangladesh and has to be imported from Italy, they said. Barisal City Corporation (BCC) Mayor Mazibar Rahman Sarwar MP who is also the minister-in-charge for the district after a meeting with Khulna T&T General Manager on December 18 wrote a letter to the Post and Teleco-mmunication Minister requesting him to set up another exchange with 7,000 lines. The minister asked the T&T Board to set up a new exchange in Barisal soon. But there has not been any progress in this regard, sources said. When contacted, DET Jagadish Chandra Mondal declined to make any comment.
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