RCom mobile biz out of coverage, 400 TN employees asked to leave

The close-down comes in the wake of RCom attempting to settle the mounting debts exceeding an amount of $6.8 bn.

In Tamil Nadu, RCom’s business includes the Chennai circle, where customers have been intimated through a public notice asking them to port their mobile number to a telecom service provider of their choice as the ‘site will cease to be operational in 30 days’. With RCom deciding to discontinue its voice as well as CDMA-based services, customers are prompted to opt for 4G data services as their Unique Port Code is valid till 23:59:59 hours of 31 December 2017.

A consultant of repute, in the know of these developments, on condition of anonymity, said Reliance Industries’ top boss Mukesh Ambani is in the reckoning for acquiring the RCom business. This comes on the back of the industry buzz that the infra side of RCom has lured several potential buyers including ATC, BTL, Indus, Bharti Airtel. As the wind-up operations are in full swing, the sell-off would add more muscle to the Jio entity, that has triggered a price and data war in the telecom space.

Meanwhile, a source within the company, confirmed that apart from the 30-day notice issued to the customers, employees – 400-odd in TN have been served a notice period in the first week of October this year. Last week, a mail had also been sent from the company to 600 odd channel partners, intimating them that their dues will be settled once the deal is done.