Etisalat DB has apologised to its customers for a temporary mobile service disruption on Friday resulting from non-payment of dues towards Reliance communications (Rcom), the company’s JV partner in India.

The Etisalat uses Rcom’s base stations to provide services in 15 zones in India.

“Etisalat DB apologizes to its customers for a temporary mobile service disruption on Friday due to a technical issue beyond our control. Our team has been working round-the-clock to resolve the issue and restore the mobile services at the earliest”, a company spokesman told Telecomtiger.

“Etisalat DB is committed to providing its subscribers with the highest quality of services and deeply regrets the inconvenience caused”, the company said in a statement.

The company however refused to comment on the dispute with Rcom on non-payment of dues. Rcom says that the disruption of services has to do with the non-payment of dues.

"Despite repeated reminders, payments have been inordinately delayed by EDB (Etisalat DB) without any reasonable cause, leading to the disconnection of services," a Reliance Communications spokesman said in a statement.

Etisalat DB has 1.67 million subscribers in India.