Telecom service provider Aircel has filed for a bankruptcy protection with the National Company Law Tribunal or NCLT in Mumbai, soon after its Malaysian promoter named Maxis Communications decided against pumping additional funds into the company. Although Aircel was weighing various options, including taking the plunge into 4G services done through partnerships, but this entailed fresh investments from the promoters.

Aircel in a statement said that filing of CIRP is not actually a proceeding for liquidation but a process to find the best possible solution for the current situation. This move was followed by a Joint Lenders Forum meeting held in Mumbai today where the lenders asked for moving NCLT for bankruptcy protection.

Global Communication Services Holdings (GCSH), a Mauritius-based subsidiary of Maxis Communications on Monday said in an email response to Business Line on its decision of not to infuse further funds into the company.

Aircel in a statement revealed that the board of directors of the corporate debtor Aircel Cellular, Dishnet Wireless and Aircel have jointly filed an application under the Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 for undertaking the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) for all the three companies.

The board also acknowledged the fact that it has been facing troubled times in a highly-financially stressed industry a result of intense competition following the disruptive entry of a new player in the telecom industry, legal and regulatory challenges plus a high level of unsustainable debt and increased losses. This has resulted in significant negative business and also caused negative reputation of the company.

In the year 2016, in an effort to undertake the first mobile industry consolidation the company tried to go onboard, a merger of its wireless business with another operator but because of various issues and hurdles the merger could not succeed and lapsed in September 2017.