O2 and EE mobile phone networks experience 'technical issues'

The mobile phone network EE (Everything Everywhere) and O2 have been affected by technical problems which have left some customers unable to make calls. The case of the problem is not yet known but EE says it is aware of the problem, which appears to mostly affecting calls made to landlines. Calls to other networks and text messaging do not seem to be affected.

In a statement an EE spokesman said: "We're aware customers from EE (and other networks) are having issues calling landlines. We're investigating urgently." O2 said in a statement: "We are aware of an issue where some O2 customers may be experiencing difficulties making calls from their mobile to EE mobiles and to landline numbers. BT, our fixed line partner, have confirmed they are investigating a problem within their network and we apologise for any inconvenience."

At 8 pm, O2 issued a statement to say the issue had been resolved. O2 said: "BT has confirmed that the problem is now fixed and our customers are able to make calls successfully. We will continue to monitor service overnight to ensure stability for our customers. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

However some O2 customers continued to Tweet that they were experiencing difficulties. One user said: "@O2 I currently cannot make any calls since 1800, when is the mask (me5 postcode area) going to be fixed and how to we claim for compensation." Another said: "@O2 Hi, still cant call landlines. Do you reckon itll be fixed by 9am?"

O2 users are asked to check the company's live status checker for the latest information. The two networks together provide coverage for 50 million users across the UK. Both companies have experienced network problems previously. In May 2015, O2 was affected by a seven hour network blackout and the EE Network had a similar outage in 2014.