<i>BTTB slowly packing up card phone booths</i>
The card phone booth near the Salimullah Muslim Hall looked deserted. Its rusty and dust covered interior suggests that no one has entered it for quite a while.
"I cannot remember anyone using that [booth] in months," said Shimul, a resident of the hall and student of Dhaka University. "Not that there is anything surprising about it. Who would use card phones when there are mobile phones around."
Things have not been much different in the 400 other card phone booths in the city, and things are likely to change in future with the authorities planning to gradually withdraw all the card phone booths from the city.
"We have been slowly withdrawing card phone booths from different places of the city over the years. The number of booths which was about 1400 a few years ago now stands at around 400," said an official at the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB).
"Revenues from this sector have been decreasing while monitoring and maintenance of the booths have become increasingly difficult over time. In fact, we have been operating a lot of booths solely because of their value as a communal service," he said.
The authorities will withdraw the remaining phone booths as soon as the current stock of telephone cards is exhausted, sources said.
"Although the [card phone] business is almost dead, it will take a while to withdraw the booths as there are a lot of telephone cards in stock right now. It may take well over a year or maybe two," said Mohammad Bayezi, an operator and seller at card phone office at New Market.
The scheme received significant popularity when it was introduced in 1992 as a joint venture between the communication ministry, BTTB and Telephone Shilpa Shangstha (TSS). Almost all the major areas and spots of the city were equipped with card phone booths for the convenience of general public.
According to unofficial sources, revenues earned from this sector totalled up to Tk 172 crore over the past 17 years. Of the amount, over Tk 28 crore came during the fiscal year of 1996-1997.
However, returns from this sector declined fast and they were little over Tk 21 lakhs during the fiscal year 2006-2007. Authorities believe that the amount will be even lower this year.
"People value convenience more than anything else," said Bayezi. "They would rather spend Tk 20 on an ISD call from their mobile, sitting comfortably in their bedrooms rather than going all the way to the nearest card phone booth and making the same call with Tk 6."
"Also, with majority of the telephone exchanges in the city been digitalised, card phones cannot offer similar features and conveniences. This has been another drawback of the service," he said.
Sources at Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) said that it has been difficult to monitor and maintain the booths.
"Siemens--the company responsible for mainstreaming and repairing the card phones is also reluctant to repair the booths now. Because of this, scores of card phones are either left unattended or out of order for a long period," said a BTTB official.
"The BTTB or TSS lacks the technology or resources to maintain these booths without the help of Siemens. Therefore, we have been facing difficulties in maintaining a large number of booths," he said.
It has also been alleged that deliberate poor maintenance by a section of corrupt BTTB officials to allow private phone shops to do brisk business was a major reason behind the virtual death of the card phone service.
TSS officials even blamed the private phone shop owners for intentionally damaging the card phone booths for self-interest.
Post office officials and authorised distributors of the cards were also allegedly involved in corruption as they used to sell the cards only on commission.
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