Three mobile customers told BBC service outage and unable to make 999 calls

Customers of mobile network Three told the BBC they were unable to make 999 calls as the network faced severe disruption.

More than 10,000 people told outage tracker DownDetector on Thursday that they were unable to make or receive calls, and the company apologized.

Earlier on Thursday, Three told the BBC in a statement that its customers could still make 999 calls.

However, members of the public told the BBC that their devices using the Three network were unable to make 999 calls. The BBC has not been able to independently confirm their claims.

The BBC has contacted Three for comment.

The company previously told the BBC: “We are aware of an issue affecting a small portion of our voice service and our teams are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

“We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”

The company said people could still use mobile data services and make 999 calls during the blackout, but many people told the BBC this was not the case.

Thousands of reports were also received from users of Smarty and ID Mobile, a small mobile company that uses the Three network.

Three's support team has been telling customers that it has no “timetable” for a fix, but that the company is “working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”

Three has about 10.5 million customers in the UK, according to its website, but it's unclear how many of those customers were affected by the outage.

Many people on social media expressed their displeasure with the outage and described the disruption they said it caused them.

one person claimed Unable to answer phone calls, they 'missed medical appointments' while another said These issues left their daughter “in trouble.”

And many people claim They will go off the grid entirely.

Regulator Ofcom said in a statement: “We are aware of an issue with Three's network. We are contacting Three to establish the scale and cause of the issue as quickly as possible.”

It is unclear whether customers will be able to claim compensation for the outage, although it may be appropriate for providers to offer refunds “while repairs are carried out”, according to Ofcom's website.

A month ago, British regulators approved Three's merger with former rival Vodafone in a £16.5 billion deal.

it's coming Severe power outage occurred on the same day Artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT.