AT&T said Thursday that its cellular network has been restored, after widespread “wireless outages” affected some of its customers earlier in the day, following user reports of outages.
tens of thousands of AT&T T,
Users reported an outage on Downdetector shortly after 11 a.m. ET. AT&T said it took “immediate action” to address the issues.
“We have restored wireless service for all of our affected customers,” AT&T said on its website Thursday afternoon. “We sincerely apologize to them…We are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future.”
AT&T blamed the outage on a software bug, not anything malicious. “Based on our initial review, we believe that today’s outage was due to the application and execution of an incorrect process that was used while we were expanding our network, and not a cyberattack,” the company said in a statement.
Earlier, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI are looking into the outage and the possibility of a cyberattack.
See also: UnitedHealth believes a suspected nationwide cyberattack has hit its Change Health unit
AT&T shares fell more than 2% on Thursday.
While Verizon Communications Inc. customers VZ,
and T-Mobile US Inc.TMUS,
Service issues were also flagged on Downdetector, and these carriers suggested that the reports from their customers were due to issues connecting to customers on AT&T's network.
“The Verizon network is operating normally,” a Verizon spokesperson said. “Some customers experienced issues this morning when calling or texting customers served by another carrier.”
A T-Mobile spokesperson said it “did not experience any service interruptions.” “Our network is operating normally.”
Verizon shares fell nearly 1% during Thursday trading, while T-Mobile stock fell slightly.
Mike Murphy contributed to this report.
