Vodafone has been hit by a major network outage, leaving hundreds of thousands of mobile, broadband, and landline customers across the UK without service.
Reports of widespread disruption began surfacing at around 2:50 p.m. on Monday. According to Downdetector, which tracks network problems, more than 130,000 people lodged complaints within hours of the blackout beginning.
A Vodafone spokesperson confirmed the company was facing a “major issue” affecting its broadband, 4G, and 5G services.
“We are aware of a major issue on our network currently affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services,” the spokesperson said. “We appreciate our customers’ patience while we work to resolve this as soon as possible.”
The disruption also took down the websites for Vodafone UK and VodafoneThree, both of which remained inaccessible as of Monday evening. The global parent company’s website, Vodafone Group, continued to operate normally.
The outage also affected customers of other networks that rely on Vodafone’s infrastructure, including Voxi, Asda Mobile, Talkmobile, and Lebara Mobile.
While the exact cause of the outage has yet to be confirmed, it was reported that it is believed to stem from a technical fault rather than a cyberattack. A UK security source said the issue appeared to be a “technical glitch.”
Jake Moore, a cybersecurity specialist at Eset, said the disruption could be linked to problems with Vodafone’s internet domain. Such an issue, he explained, could “severely disrupt access to digital services” by preventing devices from connecting to Vodafone’s domains and “effectively blocking connectivity.”
Independent data from internet monitoring group NetBlocks showed that web traffic associated with Vodafone dropped to nearly zero on Monday afternoon, warning of a “national blackout” on the network. Cybersecurity firm Cloudflare similarly reported that Vodafone had “effectively dropped off the internet.”
The outage comes at an awkward time for Vodafone, just months after it finalised a multi-billion-pound merger with rival Three UK in June. The £15 billion joint venture created Britain’s largest mobile network, serving 28 million customers and 1.6 million fixed broadband users.
The merged company pledged to invest £11 billion in improving the UK’s mobile coverage following a review by the competition watchdog. Vodafone had marketed the merger with the slogan “two networks are better than one,” promising faster speeds and better reliability for millions of customers.
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group’s chief executive, previously said the merger would “transform the country’s digital infrastructure and propel the UK to the forefront of European connectivity.”
Shares in Vodafone fell 0.6 per cent on Monday amid the disruption.
As of Monday evening, Vodafone had not provided an estimated timeframe for when full service would be restored.
