AT&T Inc. said Thursday its cellular network has been restored, after widespread \u201cwireless service interruptions\u201d affected some of its customers earlier in the day, following user reports of outages. <\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of AT&T \u201cWe have restored wireless service to all our affected customers,\u201d AT&T said on its website Thursday afternoon. \u201cWe sincerely apologize to them \u2026 we are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n AT&T blamed the outage on a software error, rather than anything malicious. \u201cBased on our initial review, we believe that today\u2019s outage was caused by the application and execution of an incorrect process used as we were expanding our network, not a cyber attack,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n Earlier, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Homeland Security and FBI were looking into the outage and the possibility of a cyberattack.<\/p>\n Also see:<\/strong> UnitedHealth sees suspected nation-state cyberattack hit its Change Health unit<\/a><\/p>\n Shares of AT&T fell more than 2% on Thursday.<\/p>\n While customers of Verizon Communications Inc. \u201cVerizon\u2019s network is operating normally,\u201d a spokesperson said. \u201cSome customers experienced\u00a0issues this morning when calling\u00a0or texting with customers served by another carrier.\u201d<\/p>\n T-Mobile \u201cdid not experience an outage,\u201d a spokesperson there said. \u201cOur network is operating normally.\u201d<\/p>\n Shares of Verizon were down about 1% in Thursday action, while T-Mobile\u2019s stock was off fractionally. <\/p>\n
\n T,
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\n users had flagged service disruptions on Downdetector shortly after 11 a.m. Eastern time. AT&T said it took \u201cimmediate action\u201d to address the issues. <\/p>\n
\n VZ,
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\n and T-Mobile US Inc.
\n TMUS,
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\n also flagged service issues on Downdetector, those carriers suggested that reports from their customers were due to problems contacting customers on AT&T\u2019s network.<\/p>\n