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 1980 s, 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.