June 17, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1424

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PESHAWAR, June 16: The Mobilink dealers in the city are facing a slump for the last six months owing to non-availability of new connections since December 2002.

 Adil Iqbal, a mobile phone dealer, said he was expecting to get almost 200 new Mobilink connections as the company had upgraded its system, but dealers were still awaiting them.

A few days ago, a three-member panel of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had fined Mobilink Rs60 million for its poor quality of service.

The company, a licensee of the PTA, was not providing satisfactory service to its customers under the terms and conditions of the agreement, so after a combined survey, the firm was fined, sources in the PTA told Dawn .

Dealers are suffering a lot due to the non-availability of new connections from the company which was already facing shortage of connections.

“A dealer without new connections cannot sell mobile phones,” Mr Adil lamented.

“I have spent all my savings on this business as nowadays I am doing nothing the whole day. The company had promised to provide new connections to the dealers by June 12, but it didn’t happen. Let’s see what happens now,” he said.

Five Mobilink franchises, based in the city, are providing customer services and earning only through billing and sale of scratch cards.