AT&T outage in US impacts thousands, carrier cites 'software issue'

Thousands of AT&T customers across the US experienced outages on Wednesday, leaving their phones in SOS mode for over several hours and unable to make or receive calls or send texts.

The outage began on Tuesday at around 4 pm (local time), with as many as 5,800 reports made by 6. 46 pm. The outage impacted people in major cities like Tennessee, Florida, Los Angeles and Arkansas, among other cities.

An AT&T spokesperson, while speaking to CNN, said that the outage could be due to a "software issue" and efforts have been made to rectify the issue.

"We are working to address a software issue that may affect the ability of a limited number of our customers to connect to our wireless network," the AT&T spokesperson was quoted as saying by CNN.

"Keeping our customers connected is our highest priority, so we appreciate their patience as we work to resolve this issue," the spokesperson said, as per CNN.

Earlier on Tuesday, in Tennessee, the emergency services in Hawkins County announced that an AT&T wireless service outage "may affect the ability of some AT&T wireless customers to reach our 911 centre".

In a post on X, the agency also urged people to call its non-emergency line if they were unable to connect with 911.

Similarly, in Florida, police announced a "reported outage with our non-emergency and district phone lines," but added that 911 was not affected.

In California, police in Pinole said that some AT&T wireless callers "may have issues calling 911," but added that “landlines as well as other wireless carriers not affected.”

Earlier in February this year, thousands of AT&T customers across the US also experienced similar outages, leaving their phones unable to make or receive calls or send texts.

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