New Delhi: Rough time etches out rivalry, is proved when Vodafone, a mobile service provider, rescued its archrival Airtel, as a major fire destroyed some of the latter's crucial telecom switches in Mumbai. "Welcome to the Vodafone Mumbai Network. Happy to help" is the message that greeted Airtel users in Mumbai, as Airtel dealt the blazing setback, caused by a short circuit in the power cables.

The fire caused by a short circuit in the power cables that belong to the power supplier in Peninsula Chambers, one of the buildings in the complex, reportedly raged for about four hours before it could be controlled badly affecting the Airtel office. It wrecked Airtel's services, resulting in a 12 hour cut off, reports Sunday Times. The damage was a minimal amount of 20 to 25 percent, but as it was not restricted to a series of numbers or a particular geography, the brunt was more. The Southern parts of Mumbai and some parts of the suburbs were worse affected. But, the company sends news of improvement claiming 90 percent of the total affected parts is now up and running. It wrote, "The situation in the affected areas will see improvements over the next few days and customers will soon be able to enjoy 100 percent network experience."

However, Vodafone, which is the only player in Mumbai with some excess capacity unlike the other GSM players BPL and MTNL, immediately meets its approach for assistance. In fact it was more sympathetic towards Airtel but helps without compromising on its own subscribers. "At night and on weekends, office traffic dips, so we were able to take on the additional load," said a Vodafone official