Landline maker set for automation

Telephone Shilpa Sangstha Limited (TSS), the state-run telephone equipment manufacturer, is set to go under an automated production system by December, eyeing production of more than a thousand landline sets a day.

"An automated system by the year-end will enable our company to make telecom equipment,” TSS Managing Director Mohammad Ismail told The Daily Star.

TSS is the prime supplier of land phone sets and analog system equipment to Bangladesh Telecommuni-cations Company Limited (BTCL), formerly Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB).

After being inactive for a long time, TSS restored its production last week.

In the late 1980s, the introduction of digital telephony by the government but the absence of any initiative to raise capacity has led to such inactiveness of the lone telephone equipment maker in the public sector.

The last caretaker government tried to find a strategic partner for the company. But no local or foreign company suitably responded to this move.

Meanwhile, the latest move by the present government, in line with its electoral pledge to make Bangladesh a digital one, will breathe a new life.

With the automation, TSS handset production capacity is expected to rise to 1,000 units per day from the existing 50.

Presently, 14.61 lakh customers are using land phones. BTCL enjoys a 8.72 lakh customer base, while private landline operators hold the rest.

Besides the automation move, a Tk 25 crore project has been taken up for the TSS under which base stations will be supplied to TeleTalk, the state-owned mobile operator.

According to TSS officials, this project may create a momentum in the company's activation further.

The parliamentary standing committee on the telecommunication ministry earlier announced a plan to reinvigorate the government entity. This body recommended manufacture of mobile phone sets and low price laptop by the TSS in association with a foreign company.

TSS was established in 1967 as Telephone Industries Corporation under a joint venture.