Airtel mobiles go silent in Hyderabad for over 6 hours

January 24, 2015 11:58 am | Updated 03:21 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Airtel mobiles went dead for several hours in Hyderabad on Saturday. The services were gradually restored after 1 p.m. File photo: G. Ramakrishna

Airtel mobiles went dead for several hours in Hyderabad on Saturday. The services were gradually restored after 1 p.m. File photo: G. Ramakrishna

Cell phones of mobile telephony major, Airtel, fell silent in Hyderabad since 6 a.m. on Saturday morning with what was termed a systemic failure of its network.

Till around noon, the situation was the same and no Airtel mobile could be accessed. The situation improved from around 1 p.m. onwards and slowly communication lines for Airtel customers got opened up.

Enquiries revealed that Airtel was doing some system integration and upgrades on the network that includes slightly over 2,500 cell sites in and around Hyderabad. However, somewhere in the communication loop, a snag led to what was well nigh a complete breakdown of its mobile services including voice and data.

Technical downtime

Post-noon, an Airtel spokesperson mailed a clarification saying a technical downtime had affected the network in certain regions of the City that led to customers getting limited access to mobile services in parts of the city.

"The network has been restored and is fully operational now. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to our valued customers," the release said. A company executive maintained that the downtime had nothing to do with the 4G launch.

Sources revealed that when system integration of this kind was in process before shifting to a higher communication platform, it was normal for only data services to be affected. However, in this case something went wrong.

Industry experts pointed out that rare such disruptions may be, they would not last a long time and expressed confidence that the communication system would be up and running very soon. But the fact remains that any network disorder puts paid to daily plans of mobile consumers regardless of whichever operator they choose.

Quite a number of Airtel customers thronged the main office in Begumpet for a while. Police had a tough time keeping the main road open for free flow of traffic and coaxed the agitated customers to get inside the lane leading to Chiran Fort and the United States Embassy office.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.