Police earplugs on Jaffna phones

Users of CDMA and mobile phones in the Jaffna peninsula have been asked to obtain a police clearance certificate for the use of the phones from this month, an official said yesterday.

For the past two months, CDMA phones have been barred while the use of hand phones is restricted to a few hours a day in the peninsula.

The police have already sent a printed application form to the Jaffna Telecom office to deliver it to phone users along with their telephone bills for this month, Regional Telecom Engineer N. Sivanandan said.
He said that since May, the phones had been barred by the security forces and many subscribers had been inquiring from him as to what was happening.

Mr. Sivanandan said the communication network in the peninsula was handled by the security forces and he was not in a position to restore the service. There are nearly 7,200 CDMA phones and 150,000 mobile phones in use in Jaffna.