KARACHI, Oct 18: The performance of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company’s centralized directory assistance system -– better known as phone inquiry 17 -– has deteriorated to such as extent that subscribers have to make a number of calls before they get connected to telephone operators.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Tuesday that PTCL high-ups no longer supervised the centralized directory assistance system as watchfully as they did in 2001 when the system was put in place.

Before 2001, they said, there were complaints about phone inquiry 17 being either engaged all the time or left unattended for long periods. “But then the PTCL opted for the latest technology available for this system and a mechanism was put in place which enabled subscribers to get connected to the centralized directory assistance system even if all operators were occupied with phone queries,” they said.

The sources said they had received complaints from subscribers about their calls getting disconnected after getting through to the centralized directory assistance system. “Subscribers get connected to Inquiry 17 and then they hear a pre-recorded message telling them that all lines are currently busy. After a while they are told that their call is being transferred to such-and-such operator, but then their call drops. Sometimes a subscriber has to make eight to 10 calls to find out a number,” they explained.

The sources said that PTCL high-ups were in the know of the fault, but they had done little to rectify it.

The sources said that the PTCL faced another problem. “The technology works fine because subscribers get connected to the centralized directory assistance system. It is only when PTCL operators get involved then the system goes awry. Previously, the performance of operators handling phone queries was closely observed. This is no longer the case,” they deplored.

The sources said that the PTCL did not have as many operators as required to handle the phone queries of its hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

The spokesman for the PTCL was contacted to explain the reason for the poor performance of the centralized directory assistance system. He said he would get back after checking with PTCL high-ups why Inquiry 17 was not working properly. He never called back.