CHENNAI: While some small telecom firms are winding up operations or even selling off to the big players in the game, nearly 250 million mobile subscribers are up for grabs. Among these, most are users of Aircel, which is sailing into choppy waters even as it recently declared bankruptcy and has wound down its operations.
Furthermore, the financial mess at Aircel has set the stage for a battle between the incumbent operators, including Airtel, Reliance Jio and the Vodafone-Idea combine, who are vying to add more than 15 crore mobile users who have been facing a harrowing time in trying to port their numbers. Many users have also received messages that their porting request “has been rejected” because of a mismatch in the Unique Porting Code (UPC).
Around three lakh customers of Aircel have ported to BSNL, said R Marshal Antony Leo, Chief General Manager, BSNL Tamil Nadu circle. It is common knowledge that Aircel had a significant presence in Tamil Nadu, where it was launched first. BSNL is also working closely with Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to resolve the issues faced at the time of porting.
Echoing similar sentiments, Airtel has claimed that it has got the highest share, around 50 per cent across India, of all port-ins from Aircel customers. Over 1.5 million Aircel customers across Tamil Nadu and Chennai circles have ported to Airtel, the company said in a statement. Vodafone, on its part, said that it had received over 10 lakh Aircel customers who had opted to use its network in the last couple of weeks. The company said it was keeping all its retail touch points open on all days of the week to help customers port in.
Meanwhile, analysts say it would be better for Aircel to wind up operations. “What is the point in staying if you are continuing to lose money and relevance in the market,” asked a senior analyst. He said it would be better for the company to wind up operations and sell its customers and revenue to one of the other players and offset its debt. Aircel has a debt of `15,500 crore and holds no 4G spectrum.