Doubts about variables

Hi,
If I have a variable in a configuration file like this:

BTS=53,1-2-3-6
export BTS

As might get each of the variables in this parameter?

"53"
"1"
"2"
....

From your script you can source the config file like this:

. configfile
echo $BTS

Hi,
That's not what I wanted.
Once you recover the variable with:

. configfile
echo $BTS

How can I save each of the data variables.
a = 53
b = 1
c = 2
...

Whenever I see a post like this i am reminded: -

The secret of good programming is not in writing clever code but sensible data structures.

Goodnight