Network hit as demand for portability chokes Aircel
Ranjani.Ayyar@timesgroup.com
Chennai: Staring at bankruptcy, telecom major Aircel is creating manual codes to facilitate porting requests, which have risen exponentially over the past few days. With networks down for most part of Tuesday in Chennai, it was near-panic situation for subscribers who rushed to apply for mobile number portability.
A senior Aircel official confirmed that the company has received 10 times more requests for porting in the past few days. “The systems are unable to handle the surge. However, we are not going anywhere. It is our responsibility to serve customers till the end. We are devising a way to create manual codes to facilitate the porting process,” said the official.
Chennai and Tamil Nadu remain the biggest markets for Aircel with a quarter of its 8 crore subscribers coming from these circles.
Idea snapped interconnection services on non-payment of dues
Aircel, owned by Maxis Communications of Malaysia, is in a debt trap with banks freezing credit limits and competing telecom operators insisting on immediate payments of interconnect charges. Its CEO — Kaizad Heerjee warned employees of “tough times” couple of days ago. The telecom firm is learnt to be exploring filing for bankruptcy with National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). A company spokesperson told TOI, “Aircel is facing network issues and we are trying to find a way to resolve this at the soonest possible.” “We have had no funding for some time and have been dependent on cash generation from our current business operations,” Heerjee said. “As competition remains intense in a hugely financial stressed market, we too are being impacted...The company expects things to get even more difficult in coming days,’ his letter to employees read.
Aircel’s operations has been reeling under financial stress after banks cut credit lines due to viability issues of the sector. With the onslaught from Jio and legal issues with erstwhile promoter has rendered the telecom a pauper.
From quarterly operating profits in July 2016 the company swung to operating losses in December quarter forcing its lenders to tighten the screw further. Idea Cellular recently snapped interconnection services with Aircel for unpaid dues of ₹60 crore.
Shankar Subramanian, who works with a publication house said, “Business was disrupted because customers couldnt reach us. Payments couldnt be made as OTPs couldnt be recieved,” Subramanian said. “My entire family has only Aircel numbers. Since morning, we have not been able to connect with each other. I have already applied for portability and will port all the other numbers soon” said Anahita Mishra, resident of Chennai.
Ranjani.Ayyar@timesgroup.com
Chennai: Staring at bankruptcy, telecom major Aircel is creating manual codes to facilitate porting requests, which have risen exponentially over the past few days. With networks down for most part of Tuesday in Chennai, it was near-panic situation for subscribers who rushed to apply for mobile number portability.
A senior Aircel official confirmed that the company has received 10 times more requests for porting in the past few days. “The systems are unable to handle the surge. However, we are not going anywhere. It is our responsibility to serve customers till the end. We are devising a way to create manual codes to facilitate the porting process,” said the official.
Chennai and Tamil Nadu remain the biggest markets for Aircel with a quarter of its 8 crore subscribers coming from these circles.
Idea snapped interconnection services on non-payment of dues
Aircel, owned by Maxis Communications of Malaysia, is in a debt trap with banks freezing credit limits and competing telecom operators insisting on immediate payments of interconnect charges. Its CEO — Kaizad Heerjee warned employees of “tough times” couple of days ago. The telecom firm is learnt to be exploring filing for bankruptcy with National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). A company spokesperson told TOI, “Aircel is facing network issues and we are trying to find a way to resolve this at the soonest possible.” “We have had no funding for some time and have been dependent on cash generation from our current business operations,” Heerjee said. “As competition remains intense in a hugely financial stressed market, we too are being impacted...The company expects things to get even more difficult in coming days,’ his letter to employees read.
Aircel’s operations has been reeling under financial stress after banks cut credit lines due to viability issues of the sector. With the onslaught from Jio and legal issues with erstwhile promoter has rendered the telecom a pauper.
From quarterly operating profits in July 2016 the company swung to operating losses in December quarter forcing its lenders to tighten the screw further. Idea Cellular recently snapped interconnection services with Aircel for unpaid dues of ₹60 crore.
Shankar Subramanian, who works with a publication house said, “Business was disrupted because customers couldnt reach us. Payments couldnt be made as OTPs couldnt be recieved,” Subramanian said. “My entire family has only Aircel numbers. Since morning, we have not been able to connect with each other. I have already applied for portability and will port all the other numbers soon” said Anahita Mishra, resident of Chennai.
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