Aircel cuts back in five circles

Indian cellco Aircel is cutting down operations in five circles in an effort to reduce costs, the Economic Times reports without citing its sources. Madhya Pradesh is expected to be the first area to see operations trimmed back, followed by Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. A spokesperson from the cellco sought to dispel rumours that the provider was closing down in certain areas, but acknowledged that Aircel was indeed restructuring to improve its margins: ‘Aircel is revamping its business model innovatively to lower ‘cost to serve’ without compromising on customer service or network experience…The telecom industry is facing severe margin pressures as the voice market is maturing and the data demand in its true sense is still nascent. Operational costs are high and incremental market demand for relatively new players is prohibitive.’