If you’re a Loop Mobile subscriber in Mumbai, then you’ve already learned about Vodafone having ceased to accept incoming calls from the said network provider. The reason is that the carrier is apparently behind on paying its interconnect fees, resulting in customers being unable to place calls to Vodafone numbers.
UPDATE: The Economic Times is reporting that the Vodafone and Loop Mobile dispute has been settled within 24 hours of chaos following the former’s decision to block incoming calls from the latter’s customers to subscribers of its own services. Airtel is surely pleased that it is left with one less pending bill to pay in the future.
Interconnect charges are basically fees that an operator incurs when generating a call and has to pay 10 paise per minute to the service provider where the call has ended. The amount that is due from Loop Mobile to Vodafone hasn’t been mentioned by the latter its statement, though it has disclosed that incoming calls only have been temporarily restricted. What’s more, an unnamed official mentioned that the disputed charges have been long overdue.
Vodafone and Loop Mobile are two of the oldest mobile network providers in Mumbai. The latter has a customer base of more than 3 million subscribers, all of whom have been affected. Vodafone users, on the other hand, shouldn’t face any trouble connecting to a number on Loop Mobile. The former operator has started sending out alerts to its customers notifying them of the issue. On the upside, a spokesperson for Loop noted that the issue would be resolved today. Airtel is in process of acquiring the operator in Mumbai for around Rs 700 crores and it will merge all existing subscribers with its own as well as gain control of retail outlets and cellular towers which are estimated at around 400 to 500 in Mumbai.
As we mentioned above, the amount due from Loop Mobile hasn’t been disclosed by Vodafone reps. Services should function as normal from today onwards, that’s provided the operator pays off its dues.