KARACHI, Oct 12: Fixed phone lines in various localities have been out of order for the past many days and subscribers have been lodging frequent complaints without any result.

The subscribers of the prefix numbers `493’ and `494’ of the Pak Capital Telephone Exchange complained that their numbers remained dead for the past many days. They said that they had lodged numerous complaints with the centralized complaint number `18’. Some of them claimed that they had frequently visited the exchange to lodge their complaints but in vain.

A subscriber, Ms Asifa Israr Jilani having phone number 6689167, said that her phone had been out of order for the past two months. She had lodged several complaints and visited the exchange concerned frequently to get the phone functional but all of her efforts went in vain. Family members of Ms Asifa visited high officials in the exchange personally who promised that the phone would be functional in a day or two but the phone remained dead.

An irate subscriber, Khalid, of the same exchange having phone number 6684831 said the number had been out of order for the past one month.

He said several complaints had been lodged about it. He said the out of order numbers were not being repaired so that people could be compelled to buy the PTCL’s wireless phones.

Similarly, another subscriber (number 4825951) said that his phone went frequently out of order. “I have lodged many complaints about the problem in my phone that goes out of order every few days. It is a perpetual problem but officials in the phone company have failed to rectify the fault”, he added.