'MNP issue will be taken up with the Union Minister'

OUR STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, July 6: The issue of Mobile Number Portability will be taken up with the Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology during his visit to Agartala. Chief General Mager of BSNL North Eastern Circle-1, DP Singh said this on Monday, in Shillong.

It needs to be mentioned that the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology had decided to deprive the North eastern States from the benefit of Mobile Number Portability

The CGM, however, said that it needs to be pondered upon due to security related issues as cited by the security agencies for the exclusion.

Speaking to the media in Shillong on Monday, Singh said, “It’s much easier to trace any crimil who used the MNP instead of trying to find out his/her number if he or she comes to the North eastern states”. Impressing that the exemption defies logic, even if it is based on the advice of the security agencies, Singh said that he will definitely make some noise by taking up the issue with the Union Minister.

Singh who dwelt at length on key initiatives by BSNL in the three states of Meghalaya-Mizoram and Tripura (that falls under NER circle -1), Singh elaborated on the Northeast Intertiol Gateway at Agartala and its connectivity being extended to Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh with a 10 GB bandwidth.

He also spoke about the fairly improve network in the region due to the pilot project where solar generators have been put on used in places where there is erratic electricity supply in the rural areas. Even as he spoke about the BSNL next generation Network (NGN) to provide latest services, convergence of services and quality of services to the customer, the Chief General Mager was candid in citing varied reasons for failing to expand the mobile network services.