Customers irate as Aircel goes off air over ‘network issues’

Network issues on Wednesday affected telecom firm Aircel, whose customers were unable to make or receive calls, triggering rumours that the operator was shutting down its services.

A company official however clarified that the telecom network was facing some issues and it was trying to resolve these. ''Aircel is facing network issues and we are trying to find a way to resolve this at the soonest possible,'' the official told PTI.

However, there was no clear explanation on what these issues were and why the network had broken down.

Reports said customers in Chennai, Coimbatore and other places including Bihar virtually laid siege to some of its outlets after rumours about the closure of its service emerged.

There was a surge of requests for a change of operator under number portability, but these could not be met due to the network problem, which according to customers had persisted for three days or more.

Aircel employees at a company outlet in Coimbatore tried to convince the protesting customers, saying the rumours of closure were being spread by competitors.

Last year, Aircel and Reliance Communications had planned to merge but the deal did not materialise.