Airtel mobiles go silent in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Thousands of Airtel subscribers across the city had a harrowing time on Saturday after their mobile phones went silent from early morning due to a major technical glitch on the telecom giant’s network.
Airtel subscribers in areas like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Begumpet, Punjagutta, Khairatabad, Somajiguda, Marredpally, Dilsukhnagar, Anandnagar, Basheerbagh, Himayatnagar, Attapur, Patancheru, Vanasthalipuram, LB Nagar, among others, fretted and fumed as their phones flashed `No service currently available’, `call failed’, `message delivery failed’ messages and their connections played truant through the day.
“At around 7.45 am when I tried to make calls I found that despite my handset showing a signal, my calls were not going through. My connection was restored only around 1 pm but not before some anxious moments as my family members, who live in Bangalore, could not reach me,” said Shiv Kumar, a media professional residing in Srinagar Colony.
Venkat Krishna, Hyderabad service manager of an electronics giant, too had a tough time as they were unable to reach their technical team or customers. “From morning to around 12.45-1.00 pm we were unable to get in touch with our technicians or attend to any customer calls due to the snag,” he said.
VIPs like Telangana deputy chief minister T Rajaiah, who also holds the health portfolio, was worried as he could not communicate with health department officials, especially since the city is in the grip of swine flu. “It was impossible to make calls while many complained that they could not reach me on my mobile,” he said.
Unable to make or receive calls, send emails or even SMSes due to the downtime, panicky and irate subscribers either choked the Airtel customer helpline with calls or thronged its outlets and main office at Begumpet demanding an explanation for the sudden stoppage of services. Due to huge crowds at outlets, police had to intervene to prevent things from going out of hand.
While most of the connections were restored by afternoon, some subscribers complained about services remaining erratic till late in the evening. “The data services on my mobile and those of some of my colleagues restarted only in the evening,” said Sunitha Reddy, a software professional.
Some insiders said the systemic failure was due to a technical snag that occurred when the telecom company’s engineers were busy with system integration and network upgradation for the soon-to-be launched 4G services. “Airtel is busy preparing to launch its 4G services and engineers are carrying out system integration and network upgrades. While doing this, over 2,500 cell sites in and around Hyderabad crashed due to a technical snag resulting in complete breakdown of its services -- voice and data,” said Nagendra Rao, an Airtel franchisee in Somajiguda.
However, an Airtel spokesperson clarified that was not the case and claimed that only subscribers in Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Begumpet were affected due to the technical glitch. “A technical downtime has affected our network in certain regions of Hyderabad city resulting in partial disruption of services. During this period, our customers had 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,” said the Airtel spokesperson.