It's curtains for the humble telegram

Come next month, the humble telegram will become a thing of the past. The service, started 160 years ago, has lost out to new-age modes of communication such as messaging and email.

According to an internal communication within Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the services are to be discontinued from July 15. Various telecom district and circle offices have been asked to stop booking telegrams after July 15.

A source in the BSNL Delhi office told dna that newer technologies had made the telegram redundant. Asked by the government to take a call on the future of the telegram, the BSNL board decided to discontinue it. “Commercially, it was not viable for BSNL to continue the services without the support of the government. Plus, given the technological advancements, the service has lost its relevance,” the source said.

Faced with declining revenues, the government had in May 2011, revised the telegram charges after a gap of 60 years. The telegram charges for inland services was hiked to Rs27/50 from Rs 3/50, 4/50 earlier.

Two months ago, telegram services for overseas communication was withdrawn by BSNL. Within a short time of BSNL handling telegram services in 1990s, the PSU had a rift with the department of posts following which telegrams were accepted as phonograms from various villages and other centres from telephone consumers. This too had restrictions and embargo during certain hours.

BSNL employees in the telegraph department will be shifted to mobile, landline and broadband services within three months.

Currently, India has over 800 million mobile phone subscribers and 150 million internet users.

R Pattabhiraman, the state secretary of National Federation of Telecom Employees said, “Before taking such a decision, the PSU should have consulted trade unions. There will be many issues and dissatisfaction among staff members when the exercise of shifting staff to some other portfolio or locations is carried out.  — With agency inputs