KARACHI, July 22: Hundreds of thousands of Mobilink subscribers have been facing extreme difficulty for the past two weeks in making and receiving phone calls.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Monday that while the existing infrastructure of Mobilink was in a shambles, it was all set to expand its consumer base.

“Given the tremendous growth potential of cellular communications in Pakistan, Mobilink is determined to make its presence more pronounced,” said a source.

With no fewer than 600,000 subscribers, Mobilink already has the largest customer base in the country. Other mobile phone company — Instaphone, Ufone, etc — lag far behind Mobilink as far as the customer base is concerned.

Dawn was unable to contact the high-ranking officials of Mobilink for their version because it could not get through. Their cellular phone numbers, beginning with 0300, was practically inaccessible.

An irate caller told Dawn that he had been dialling a Mobilink number for the past half an hour without success. “What am I supposed to do? Keep dialling this number which seems to have become jinxed?”

A Mobilink consumer said his mobile phone company had left him in the lurch. “The helpline number, which is 111, is either engaged all the time or drops after a little while. Who should we turn to in this situation?”

The consumer added that it was beyond him why Mobilink was determined to expand its customer base when it was unable to provide proper service to the existing subscribers.