Chennai, July 31 - The city's first broadband Internet service provider Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd has unplugged its services here and started refunding its subscribers their dues, officials said.

'We are forced to close down our business. We don't know why. This is the answer I give to all my subscribers,' a company official, who did not want to be identified, told IANS.

Part of the Mumbai-based Rajan Raheja group, Hathway Cable has around 50,000 subscribers in the city.

'It's only in Chennai that we are closing down our operations. Our services in Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli and Tiruppur are up and running,' the official added.

For many in the company's Internet division, the unplugging of service is an emotional shock. 'It is in Chennai that we started the commercial roll-out full fledged though the service was launched in Mumbai in a small pocket,' another official said.

Hathway Cable is the second cable Internet service provider in the city to shut operations after the closing down of the services of Cyberwave Internet Solutions in 2002.