Telecom operator Aircel has decided to shut down operations in six circles from January 30. These circles are Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (West).
The Telecom Regulatory Aurthoriy of India has directed Aircel to enable subscribers to port out to other service networks during this period.
“Aircel Ltd and Dishnet Wireless Ltd (both collectively referred to as Aircel Group)…informed the surrender of Licence…in six licensed service areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (West) with effect from sixty days from the date of notice of surrender i.e. December 1, 2017,” TRAI said.
Mobiles services in the six circles will be discontinued from January 30.
Aircel presently offers 2G services to around four million users in these six circles.
The company is finding it difficult to operate in the highly competitive business atmosphere. The entry of Reliance Jio in September 2017 has triggered an intense price war which has seen the company struggling with its financials, as per a report in the Economic Times.
In a letter, Aircel informed TRAI that “in view of the constant licensing and regulatory changes in the last 7-8 years and the hyper competition now prevalent in the telecom industry, they find it extremely difficult and economically unviable to run their business operations in the aforementioned six circles and constrained to surrender the licenses herewith.”
ET had reported earlier that the shut down in these six circles could enhance Aircel’s operating profit to over Rs 1,200 crore per annum.
TRAI has asked Aircel to issue mobile number porting code to its subscribers for shifting from its network.
Aircel has been directed to produce subscriber-wise details of all the pre-paid customers who could not port out and the unutilised balance in their account by March 20, 2018.
Further, all telecom operators have been directed to accept the porting request of Aircel subscribers till March 10, 2018.