A phone connection can be given in two or three days provided you are willing to part with five thousand rupees.
KARACHI: I have just moved into a new home in Defence Phase V. There is no telephone line here and upon seeing PTCL’s glitzy advertisements asking would-be customers to apply for a landline connection, I applied for the same. I called up 1236 and was told that “within 24 hours to 48 hours” someone would contact me to initiate the process. However, nothing happened – and when I rang the number again I was asked to re-apply.
I also contacted a security firm during this time to install a protection and alarm system. I was told that the application could move forward only once I had a landline installed at my residence. I was also told that several applications from residents in the area were pending for want of a telephone connection. Around this time, someone at my workplace heard of my predicament and said that a phone connection could be given in two or three days provided I was willing to part with five thousand rupees. I did this, knowing that if I wanted to have a landline connection soon this was perhaps the only way.
SM Ejaz Iqbal
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2010.
