The wait to use your mobile phones in the underground section of Namma Metro just got longer. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) officials say they are not to blame this time. Two months after the first service provider signed up to provide connectivity, others are yet to follow.
In March this year, one cell phone service provider – Reliance Jio – started providing services to customers who would travel the underground stretch between Cubbon Park and Magadi Road. This was possible only a year after the stretch was commissioned. The BMRCL had tied up with a company – American Tower Corporation (ATC) – to provide the infrastructure needed for broadcasting mobile signals underground.
Work on the project was delayed several times as time could not be allotted for the laying of cables in the tunnels. However, work was completed in March this year and BMRCL invited service providers to sign up with ATC use the infrastructure.
Almost two months later, users are still not able to use their cell phones. “It has been more than one year since they started services on this route. If cell phones connected to one provider work, why can’t the other companies also provide the service,” asks Anita R.K., who commutes to the Vidhana Soudha station daily.
“The companies have to approach ATC and sign an agreement with them. We are also on track to finish laying infrastructure for the underground section of Green Line. It will be complete in two months. It is up to the companies now to sign agreements and start providing the service,” a senior BMRCL official said.
