We have seen many telecom companies emerging in the 1990s. Have you heard about Aircel telecom network, which wanted to sell all their services at the same price across India? In the IPL, it was one of the top companies to sponsor. M.S Dhoni and actor Surya were the brand ambassadors to promote Aircel.
Shiva shankaran, a businessman, was into a sterling computer business selling them at profitable prices. When he entered the telecom sector, he wanted to provide telecom services in Tamil Nadu. He launched Aircel and expanded across India, he was successful and had a profitable business. The Aircel network had 7.5 crore customer base and was in the top 5 telecom networks providing quality services. It was the first network to launch 3G and pocket internet services. People predicted that it would be one of the top companies due to its services and quality.
The downfall
When competition increased in the market, users started obtaining new services. New features, better offers and involvement in the 2G spectrum scam. The licenses have been cancelled for many telecom companies. Due to some political involvement, people lost faith in Aircel and the quality of service has also been reduced.
Shiva Shankaran decided to sell his Aircel network to AT&T as they offered 8 billion dollars. It was a great deal, but again due to political involvement at every step, the deal couldn’t happen. Reliance Communications came forward to buy Aircel but still they couldn’t sell. Many big leaders with the highest authority were involved, and they wanted Aircel to sell to Malaysian-based Maxis for less price compared to the offers he received. Shivashankaran sold 74% to Maxis and 26% to Sindhya Securities & Investments for just 3,400 crore.
After a few years, Shivashankar filed a complaint to the CBI about his telecom network, saying that due to political involvement, his telecom network faced massive problems. From being one of the best telecom services to bankruptcy, the cases are still in the court premises fighting for justice.
