More than 130,000 users report problems with mobile operator
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Vodafone has suffered a massive network blackout, leaving hundreds of thousands of mobile, broadband and landline customers across Britain without signal.
Complaints about the network problem began at around 2.50pm on Monday, with more than 130,000 people reporting issues, according to Downdetector, which tracks network disruption.
A Vodafone spokesman said its 4G and 5G services were being disrupted by a major network issue. The Telegraph understands the blackout is believed to be linked to a technical fault and is not initially being treated as a possible cyber attack.
The problem has also taken down the websites for Vodafone UK and VodafoneThree, both of which remain inaccessible. The website of Vodafone Group, its global parent company, was operating as normal.
Customers of other mobile networks that piggyback on Vodafone’s technology, including Voxi, Asda Mobile, Talkmobile and Lebara Mobile, were also reporting problems.
The disruption will be highly embarrassing to Vodafone, coming just months after it finalised a multi-billion pound deal to combine its UK business with that of rival Three UK.
In marketing to promote the deal, Vodafone had claimed “two networks are better than one” with promises to boost speeds for millions of mobile customers.
Shares in Vodafone were down 0.6pc on Monday.
Vodafone completed a merger of its UK business with rival Three in June this year, forming a joint venture to create Britain’s largest mobile network with 28 million customers. It also has 1.6 million fixed broadband subscribers across its brands.
The long-awaited merger valued the combined business at £15bn. The combined company had pledged to invest £11bn on improving Britain’s mobile coverage after an investigation by the competition watchdog. The businesses have also updated their systems to allow millions of customers of Three and Vodafone to automatically use both networks.
Margherita Della Valle, chief executive of Vodafone Group, said that the deal would “transform the country’s digital infrastructure and propel the UK to the forefront of European connectivity”.
While the cause of the disruption has yet to be confirmed by Vodafone, a UK security source said the incident was believed to be down to a technical glitch.
Jake Moore, a cyber security expert at Eset, said the problems could stem from an issue with Vodafone’s internet domain. Such a problem would “severely disrupt access to digital services”, Mr Moore said, as it “prevents devices from viewing Vodafone’s domains, effectively blocking connectivity”.
Data from internet monitoring group NetBlocks showed web traffic linked to Vodafone dropped to almost zero on Monday afternoon, with the group warning of a national blackout on the operator.
Cybersecurity group Cloudflare said Vodafone had “effectively dropped off the internet”.
A Vodafone spokesman said: “We are aware of a major issue on our network currently affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services.
“We appreciate our customers’ patience while we work to resolve this as soon as possible.”
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