July 26 (NBD) -- Chinese bike sharing company Ofo is facing growing pressure from suppliers due to cash crunch.

A smart lock communication service provider said Wednesday that it will stop offering services for 3 million smart locks on Ofo bikes in phases because Ofo hasn't paid for communication service bills for smart locks of its bikes for over half a year. Once the service was stopped, the bikes will be unable to be located, and the smart locks won't be able to be remotely maintained or updated, or to provide passwords renewal as well as charging services.

So far, Ofo owes about 4 million yuan (591,174 U.S. dollars) to the communication service provider and the service bill is still growing. In addition, the smart lock service company is also facing heavy cost which comes from the payment for telecommunication services offered by telecom carriers. 

Ofo is operating a total of 14 million sharing bikes in 22 countries across the world. As of the midday of July 26, the provider has halted services for smart locks of over 2 million Ofo bikes.

When reached by NBD, Ofo confirmed its overdue bill and said a solution is underway. But with regard to whether the bike sharing services will be stopped, Ofo said all its bikes can be used as usual.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn