Talking to Express Newsline on Wednesday, Association president Yogesh Akolkar claimed, ``We contribute a total Rs 30 lakhs as annual revenue to the Department of Telecom. However, poor services extended to us by the P&T department obstructs our work and we continue to face the subscriber's wrath. Therefore, all private operators have decided to come together and work towards providing better services than the DoT''.

Among the facilities to be extended to private telephone subscribers is shifting of a private connection to another private exchange in case of an intra-city relocation of the subscriber. Thus, if a private exchange customer from Fatehgunj decides to move towards Alkapuri, he will immediately be provided with a phone by an private exchange operator at Alkapuri.

Akolkar said that DoT General Manager Rakesh Babu, after a meeting with the Association members, had assured that names of all private exchange subscribers will be enlisted in the DoT's annual directory beginning next year. ``This will enable callers to acquire telephone numbers of private subscribers by dialling 197,'' he added.

Another important facility being extended to the private subscribers is that of caller identification. ``With no such facility available on private phones earlier, the crank calls menace was disturbing us and our subscribers. However, now we have developed a indigenous software which will flash the number of the caller on the computer. Simultaneously, we'll also purchase some additional equipment to keep a tab on such callers. The subscribers will only have to pay nominal fee to use this facility,'' Akolkar said.

The private operators also plan to extend Internet services at rates cheaper than the DoT. Besides, they have also decided to organise a special cultural programme as a friendly gesture to the 5,000-odd private phone subscribers in the city. Among the other office-bearers of the association are Sanath Bhavsar as deputy president, Rajendra Patel and Nikhil Shah as administrative secretaries. For details, private phone subscribers can contact the association on 705000.