A fortnight has passed after Cyclone Amphan had struck the city and power is back at most homes. Yet, cable TV and broadband services are a long way from normal.

The storm had uprooted around 5,000 electric poles in the city, according to an estimate by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

Multi-system operators cited shortage of manpower and crippled logistics, both because of the lockdown, as well as lack of coordination with the civic body and other agencies for the delay in resumption of uninterrupted services.

The direct-to-home (DTH) and mobile internet service providers, too, are struggling to restore normality.

A Gariahat resident tried calling the helpline of a DTH service provider for five days but in vain. “Finally, I got hold of the technician who usually visits my place. I paid some extra money and he did the job,” the resident told Metro.

A Phoolbagan resident said his cable TV and broadband connections, provided by the same MSO, had snapped during the May 20 storm and were yet to be restored.

A Behala resident who works with an online share trading platform had been virtually out of work for four days after the storm because of his snapped broadband connection. He earns a commission on each trade and being offline means zero income.

“My phone’s internet was back on the fifth day. I am having to do with that. But the connection is slow,” he said.

The city has at least seven MSOs that transmit TV signals through cables and more than 12 broadband service providers, which provide Net links using the same method. Operators tie their cables around lamp posts because the underground route is expensive.

“Most of our men have returned to their villages because of the lockdown. We are having to do with a much-curtailed workforce,” said Suresh Sethia, director of Siti Cable. “Almost all cable TV connections have been restored but over 20 per cent of broadband links are yet to be restored”.

An official of another MSO and broadband service provider said: “The CMC, CESC, army and other disaster management agencies have, at many places, snapped our cables while clearing trees and fixing tilted poles.”

Vijay Agarwal, the managing director of GTPL-KCBPL, said fibre and accessories are usually brought in from other states. “Since transport was hit by the lockdown, getting the equipment to Bengal was a challenge,” said Agarwal.

MSOs and broadband service providers met Firhad Hakim, chairman of the CMC board of administrators, on Tuesday evening. Sources said Hakim had asked the MSOs to start removing the defunct cables from the poles.