Videocon Telecom, which operates under Quadrant Televentures in the Punjab telecom circle, will exit the mobile services business by shutting down its operations in the state effective February 15.
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"Quadrant Televentures would be discontinuing mobile services with effect from midnight of February 15, 2017, in Punjab service area (the entire state of Punjab including Chandigarh UT and Panchkula)," the unit of the diversified Videocon Group said in a notice on its website.
Punjab was the only telecom circle where Videocon was still in operation after the telco in March 2016 sold its spectrum to India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel for about Rs 4,428 crore.
In 2008, Videocon had acquired spectrum licenses to operate in 17 circles across India. However, the operator lost all the permits in 2012 in the 2G spectrum allotment scam. Later, it bid and re-acquired airwaves for six circles.
Videocon Telecom ended its services in Bihar and Jharkhand, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East) and Uttar Pradesh (West) in May last year.
Before closing operations in the Punjab circle, Quadrant Televentures asked its prepaid customers to exhaust their balance and subscribers being billed monthly to clear their dues before moving to other carriers.
Back in September 2016, Videocon Telecom CEO Arvind Bali had said that one of the key reasons the company is exiting the mobile telecom space was because it predominantly was a 2G player in a market that was fast catching up newer technologies like 4G.
The company said it plans to make a comeback in the telecom space through the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) route and will offer mobile services across the country including 3G and 4G in next six to eight months.
"We are in final stage of applying for the Virtual Network Operator license and expect to file an application in a week. MVNO roll-out usually is very quick, generally, it should take about 6-8 months depending on the number of circles," Bali had then said.
According to the Economic Times, Bali confirmed that it was exiting the spectrum-oriented businesses. "We're going in non-spectrum businesses because spectrum is expensive. We have started 14 new businesses including surveillance and security, enterprise and broadband, which needs less investment and provides quicker returns," he said.
