A Bangladeshi man has had a phone installed - 27 years after he applied for it.
Mohammad Ismail applied and paid the connection fee for a telephone line in May 1976, according to the Manabzamin newspaper.
The state-run Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board lost his application, and his repeated requests for the line went unheeded.
But, the telephone company suddenly 'found' his application after Bengali-tabloid reported his plight last week.
The company promptly connected the line in his Dhaka home on Saturday and even threw in a free telephone.
"I am so happy. But I am a bit sad, also. When I applied, I was a young man of 33 and had dreams about owning my own telephone. Now all those dreams are gone. My children will use the phone now," Ismail told the newspaper.
A phone company official told the Manabzamin they had not previously been able to give Ismail a telephone connection because of technical reasons.
Less than 10% of Bangladesh's 130 million people have telephones, mostly due to insufficient phone lines, costly fees and often cumbersome connection procedures.
Mohammad Ismail applied and paid the connection fee for a telephone line in May 1976, according to the Manabzamin newspaper.
The state-run Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board lost his application, and his repeated requests for the line went unheeded.
But, the telephone company suddenly 'found' his application after Bengali-tabloid reported his plight last week.
The company promptly connected the line in his Dhaka home on Saturday and even threw in a free telephone.
"I am so happy. But I am a bit sad, also. When I applied, I was a young man of 33 and had dreams about owning my own telephone. Now all those dreams are gone. My children will use the phone now," Ismail told the newspaper.
A phone company official told the Manabzamin they had not previously been able to give Ismail a telephone connection because of technical reasons.
Less than 10% of Bangladesh's 130 million people have telephones, mostly due to insufficient phone lines, costly fees and often cumbersome connection procedures.
