AT&T reported that approximately 75% of its network has been restored following a cellular phone outage on Thursday, which disrupted calls and text messages for numerous users across the United States.
Kirby mentioned that while the Department of Commerce experienced some disruptions, they were not severe. The outage affected AT&T’s service for several hours, impacting a significant portion of its 5G network covering around 290 million people in the US.
Kirby emphasized that there are still unanswered questions regarding the cause of the outage. He noted that while the FirstNet nationwide public safety network was affected, it has since been fully restored. Officials have been informed by AT&T that there is no indication of this being a cybersecurity incident.
Reports indicated difficulties in reaching emergency services through 911 during the outage, as stated by various government departments in several US cities. The FCC announced its investigation into the incident, while the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a DHS unit, is collaborating with AT&T to ascertain the cause. Disruptions were also experienced by users of Verizon, T-Mobile, and UScellular, though to a lesser extent compared to those on the AT&T network.
