If you are planning to visit the Gelephu hot spring in Sarpang, be prepared to confront the area’s erratic mobile network. Residents of the hot spring area and visitors claim that the poor B-mobile network service in the area is affecting both communication and business.
Visitors who are using the B-mobile service say they are unable to communicate with their families back home due to the poor network.
Some of the B-mobile subscribers walk to the chorten where they can catch the network to make calls to their families and friends back home.
“The B-mobile service is available only at this chorten and it is unavailable in other places,” said Tshering Lhamo, a visitor.
The poor connectivity is also affecting individuals catering room service to the visitors who claim that the issue has impacted their business as they are unable to communicate with their regular clients who usually call for advance booking.
The residents claim that the poor B-mobile network issue surfaced after the relocation of the B-mobile tower in the previous month.
“It would be convenient if both the network services are available. We are far from our village and we would be grateful if both the services function well. The B-mobile network is always out of service while the TashiCell’s service is functioning although at times both services are unavailable,” said Lhamo, a visitor.
“While it is expected that there will be some disturbances for a few days due to the shifting of the towers, Tashi Cell continued their services without any problem. Calls cannot be connected for B-mobile subscribers. Due to the consistent network in the past, everyone in the Tshachu area subscribed to B-mobile and even lodgers gave our B-mobile numbers to the clients. Now, with the network disturbance coinciding with the tshachu season, we are unable to communicate with the clients,” said Raj Gurung, a shopkeeper.
“We are unable to find ourselves a good lodging due to the communication barrier. We would be grateful if the telecom service provider could solve this issue at the tsachu,” said Tshering Wangchuk, a caretaker of the Gelephu Hot Spring.
“People come from as far as Thimphu and Paro and confirm room bookings via phone. It is challenging when we are unable to communicate well due to network issues. For me, I have been managing my business by texting the customers. Even so, I would be grateful if this issue is resolved,” said Rita Gurung, Hot Spring Lodge.
Meanwhile, Bhutan Telecom’s manager acknowledged that the issue surfaced after the relocation of the tower which was installed in private land.
He added that they have almost completed their work to resolve the issue at the earliest.
Karma Wangdi, Sarpang
Edited by Phub Gyem
