Airtel Network Outage Disrupts Services Across Indian Cities, Users Report Call Failures and Patchy Internet

Highlights

Airtel users across major Indian cities faced a widespread outage, with calls failing and internet access disrupted during peak working hours.

Telecom giant Airtel faced a massive network disruption on Monday, leaving thousands of subscribers across India unable to make calls or access mobile data. The outage, which struck during peak working hours, sparked widespread frustration among users who rely on mobile networks for professional and personal connectivity.

Reports of the service disruption began surfacing around 4 PM, according to outage tracker Downdetector, which registered over 3,500 complaints at the peak. The problem appeared to affect multiple regions simultaneously, including major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. While some users reported partial issues with data services, the bulk of the complaints highlighted failures in voice calling.

Social media platforms were quickly flooded with posts from disgruntled customers. Many shared that their signals had completely dropped, while others pointed out that mobile data was inaccessible despite active recharges. The situation left office-goers, remote workers, and students particularly inconvenienced, as many were unable to make essential work-related calls or use internet services for online meetings and classes.

One user, Gunjan Anurag, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Hello @airtelindia @Airtel_Presence, your network seems to be down in most of #DelhiNCR. Folks unable to make & receive calls. What is the issue?"

Another subscriber from Gurugram, Hemant Sharma, expressed similar concerns: "Hi @Airtel_Presence @airtelindia, Voice service is down in Gurugram for the last 30 mins, only the internet is working, can't make outgoing or receive incoming. What is happening??"

Others, however, voiced stronger criticism of the telecom operator. User Kaushik Bhatti posted, "What a disaster service you are providing—close it permanently if you are not able to do it. Previous reimbursement is also pending which is promised. Again it shutdown. Terminating your connection."

Despite the uproar, not all Airtel customers were impacted. In fact, some users noted that their services remained uninterrupted, highlighting that the outage may have been patchy and dependent on specific regions or network circles.

Acknowledging the scale of the problem, Airtel issued an official statement on its social media handles. The company said, “We are currently experiencing a network outage, our team is actively working to resolve the issue and restore services promptly. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused.”

The outage also coincided with a minor dip in Airtel’s stock performance. Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd. closed at ₹1,924.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, marking a decline of ₹4.95 or 0.26% on Monday.

While network disruptions are not uncommon, today’s outage underscores the growing dependence of millions of Indians on stable telecom services. With mobile networks serving as a lifeline for digital payments, remote work, streaming, and day-to-day communication, even short-lived disruptions can have outsized impacts.

As Airtel works to restore full functionality, users will be closely watching how quickly the operator resolves the crisis—and whether steps are taken to prevent such large-scale disruptions in the future.