October 02, 2007	Tuesday	Ramazan 19, 1428

SIALKOT, Oct 1: Cellphone users in Sialkot and Narowal districts are receiving frequent wrong calls, especially during Iftar and Sehr timings, due to faulty network of a cellular company.

Several users from all walks of life including traders, industrialists and exporters are facing a huge inconvenience due to the faulty network. Expressing grave concern over the situation, they have demanded immediate rectification of the fault.

They told Dawn that a fault developed in the Mobilink’s network a month ago and they were receiving calls of subscribers other than those whose numbers were being displayed on their cell phones through Caller Line Identification (CLI) system.

A subscriber, Abdul Majeed Butt, said the network of this cellular company was often found busy and overloaded making it very difficult to connect to a desired number at desired time.

Another subscriber, Muhammad Zafar Ishaq, said the company’s CLI system was also faulty and causing huge problems to them.

A girl said the faulty network was also providing opportunity to youth who remained on the look to flirt with girls.

Another woman said one had to make several attempts to get his or her call connected to the desired number because of overburdened network of the company. Similarly, some subscribers complained about inordinate delays in delivery of Mobilink’s easy-load balance. Luqman Butt Mani said cell phone users had to wait even for one or two days to get their accounts topped with easy-load balance.

The subscribers accused the cellular company of violating their rights by providing faulty service and causing huge financial losses and mental agony to them. Particularly, businessmen are the worst sufferers because they lose several business deals because of connecting to wrong numbers time and again.

Meanwhile, a large number of complainants are usually witnessed lodging their complaints at Mobilink’s franchised offices in Sialkot.

They claimed that the cellular operator had not taken solid steps to provide them a relief despite their repeated appeals.

When contacted, Mobilink officials at Sialkot Cantt franchise office said: “Yes, we have been receiving a large number of complaints about fault in the company’s network but efforts are under way to rectify it”.