Around 80 percent of more than 500,000 customers of United Telecom Limited (UTL) have not received telecommunications service since Wednesday, according to a company official.

Out of 198 base transceiver stations (BTSs) of UTL, only 43 are currently in operation at present. This has affected UTL´s services in Kathmandu Valley as well as in eastern and western development regions.

UTL had 508,841 users as at mid-October and around 80 percent of them have been deprived of telecommunications service, according to Bikash Kumar Jha, president of UTL Chapter of All Nepal Organization and Bank, Financial Workers Association.

While the UTL management blames the employees, for service disruption, employees say service disruption might be due to optical fiber related problems. "Our optical fiber might have been cut off. Or the management might have brought the service down intentionally," Jha said. "We have been trying to resolve the issue for the past two days, but to no anvil."

UTL CEO SP Pachauri said they have been failing to resolve the problem as the employees are on strike.