New Delhi: Telecom service provider Idea Cellular on Wednesday said it has suspended interconnect services with Aircel due to non-payment of dues.

“Despite several reminders for releasing the dues since November 2017, the operator has failed to meet its payment commitments forcing Idea to suspend interconnect services, as per the terms of interconnect agreement between both parties,” Idea said in a statement.

According to the telecom service provider, interconnect services will be restored immediately upon Aircel making the payment towards the outstanding dues.

Nearly 150,000 direct and indirect jobs in India’s debt-ridden and loss-making telecom sector face “clear and present danger” of corporate downsizing, as per estimates by industry sources.

At present, the sector is burdened with astronomical debt-to the tune of nearly Rs 8 lakh crore by some estimates-and heavy losses due to a slew of freebies which are being doled out by incumbent telecom players to retain their customer base.

The grim reality that the sector faces can be gauged by the comments made by Communications Minister Manoj Sinha at the recently held India Mobile Congress: “The government is aware of the stress in the sector… earlier also we have intervened, and if needed we will do so again.”

Idea suspends interconnect services with Aircel due to payment issue:

In April, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had also cautioned commercial banks about loans given to companies in the telecom sector.

According to industry observers, telecom companies have no option left but to initiate “severe cost-cutting” measures -including downsizing-to sustain operations.

Facing the axe are between 20,000-25,000 direct jobs, many of which will be due to planned mergers between incumbent players. Mergers alone will lead to over 15,000 job losses as existing portfolios and profiles are duplicated.

As per industry sources, major player Idea Cellular has axed around 1,800 jobs in the lead-up to its planned merger with Vodafone. A further reduction of 5,000-6,000 employees is on the cards as and when the merger fructifies, perhaps next March.

On the other hand, Vodafone has laid-off 1,400 people from its side as part of the merger plans with Idea, the sources said.

Although industry sources pointed towards job losses in telecom major Bharti Airtel, the company has denied the same.