Loop Telecom to shut shop outside Mumbai

Loop Telecom is planning to shut down operations in all the circles where licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court in February.

The company operates in 21 circles. Mumbai will be in exception, which has a separate licence.

After Etisalat DB and S Tel, Loop is the third company to exit operations after a Supreme Court order to cancel 122 licences issued in 2008.

The company's Mumbai business, which was acquired from BPL Mobile, is not a part of this controversial allocation.

"Loop Telecom is in the process of complying with the directive of the Supreme Court of India dated February 2, 2012," the company said.

The company is known to have sent text messages

to all its consumers outside Mumbai, asking them to port out to other operators.

"We plan to ensure everyone is ported out by June," said a company official.

According to the Supreme Court order, the licences will be officially cancelled then.

Even as it also directed the government to go for a re-auction, the company does not seem to be interested in retaining its business.

Loop has only 6,172 subscribers outside its Mumbai circle, which has 3.2 million subscribers.

The company did not comment on the number of employees who will lose their job as a part of this network shutdown. The shutdown would affect circles such as Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Kolkata, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, North East, Punjab, Orissa and Rajasthan.