Belgaum unit gets 'Best Telecom System' Award

By Our Staff Correspondent

BELGAUM, MAY 20. The telecommunication system in Belgaum city has been adjudged as the best at the national level in category II covering cities having 30,000 to 1 lakh telephone lines for its performance during 1999-2000.

A survey conducted by the Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB), which measured satisfaction level of various services provided to the subscribers among other things, gave this ranking to Belgaum Telecom District.

As many as eight exchanges was opened in the district in the last four years. The exchanges at Kakati and Mutga were integrated with the OCB main exchange. The city has about 42,000 telephones, while the district has 1,01,500. The number of exchanges in the district is 173 of which 110 have been provided with reliable media such as OFC/Microwave system covering about 92 percent of the subscribers. In the last financial year, 14 new exchanges were opened and 25,622 telephone connections were given.

The city has a high telephone density of about 104 per thousand. Belgaum is the fifth Telecom District in Karnataka to have over 1 lakh telephones after Bangalore, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad and Mysore.

During the current financial year, 15 new exchanges are proposed to be opened. They will be connected through reliable media. The department wants to increase rural penetration by providing telephone on wireless loop (WLL) technology to improve quality of rural telecom network. The C-II type Internet Node has been commissioned recently in Belgaum to improve Internet services.

The "Best Telecom System" Award was given to Belgaum Telecom at a function in New Delhi to mark the World Communication Day by the Minister for Telecommunications, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan.

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