Many in the city might have not used the Metro till now but for those who do so quite often, call drops due to the erratic mobile network underground only add to their woes. However, it was recently announced that telecom service providers are set to get the necessary facilities to extend their network to the section. The ride, it seems, will become smoother now.

Vivek Babu, an IT manager, uses the Metro occasionally to get to Mantri Mall from Yeshwanthpur. He then takes a cab to reach his office which is located near Richmond Road.

 “My mobile network is partially available in the Metro. Your family members may be trying to reach you for something urgent, you may want to book a cab for yourself or your boss may want to clarify something at work — in all such cases, it gets difficult to connect to others. Extending the network underground will definitely help,” he says.

Muthulakshmi Balasubramaniam, an IT professional, says that it is a good idea to have the network continuously available.

“It’s irritating when the call keeps dropping off. While travelling in the Metro, people who are working may want to use the time to catch up with others on phone. Some also reply to messages on WhatsApp while many read the news online and check their social media accounts so as to avoid boredom. Having a steady network will enable all of that,” she feels.

A professional in the payment technology industry, Ashwin Bhatnagar is an avid traveller who says that he has seen network connectivity (data and voice calls) available underground in most Metro stations around the world.

“I like to spend my time productively while travelling in the Metro and perhaps, finish off some work then. I am sure a lot of other people also do that. If other countries can enjoy that kind of connectivity, why should the bar be any lower for India? I would love to see that kind of connectivity come to Bengaluru,” explains Ashwin.
However, Akshay Ravindra, another professional, is of a slightly different opinion here.

“Call drops are certainly a problem and it would be nice to have network connectivity underground. But the whole exercise will be helpful only if most networks join in and provide their services underground. Else it may lead to a monopoly and people may be forced to migrate to other networks which work best there,” states Akshay.