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Shares of Reliance Communications dropped over 8 per cent on Monday as the loss-making telecom operator will shut down its voice call service from December 1 and its customers can move to other networks by the end of the year.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has directed RCom to not reject any porting out request of its subscribers and asked all telecom operators to accept the requests of RCom subscribers till December 31, 2017.
The company will provide only 4G data services to its customers and as a result will discontinue providing voice services to the subscribers, TRAI said.
The move comes after the Anil Ambani-led company, reeling under a debt of around Rs. 46,000 crore, had failed to close to its wireless business merger deal with Aircel in October.
On October 1, Reliance Communications and Aircel had called off talks to merge their mobile operations due to regulatory and legal hurdles. This raised doubts over the operators’ future as the merger was seen as vital for their survival in the competitive telecom sector.
Earlier in October, the company had said that it will shut down all 2G mobile operations by November 30. This will lead to about 1,500 job losses, according to industry sources. Subscribers will be given the option to either shift to its 3G/4G network or port out to another operator.
Separately, RCom has also decided to close down its direct-to-home (DTH) services, operating under the brand Reliance Digital TV, with effect from November 18.
(With inputs from PTI)
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