BTTB public relations
As a telephone user in Dhaka for decades, I now find a sudden change in the attitude of the BTTB staff receiving complaints on the phone. They are polite and helpful; and it takes less time to repair and restore the line/fault.
Why the mobile/cell phones have achieved such tremendous popularity? Less human contacts in the system/flowchart [linemen, underground and overhead cables-wires, longer repairing time; more materials and spare parts outdoors, etc].
So it is high time for BTTB to switch to modern equipment and system, such as fixed wireless [WLL?]. Laying out cables is expensive (project and maintenance), and material cost is high. In short, go wireless, but not cellular or mobile like Teletalk.
There are two angles of vision: capital and O&M costs and human elements (bribery and corruption). Reduce human interface; but in the background, any public service should be humanized for PR (public relations), and not for technical operation.
Now BTTB is facing severe competition, and thousands of subscribers have gone to the private sector; and the demand for new BTTB land phones has reduced drastically. What would happen after a political regime comes back to power -- realising that we are basically a have-not society, looking for some bakshish.
The bureaucratic background of the civil service has to be reviewed by the CTG and the technocrats in the system have to be recognised and rewarded as per rules, and allowed to work without too much obstruction from non-technical seniors.
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