Ofcom Investigates BT and Three Over Mobile Outages

The UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, has launched investigations into BT and Three following major mobile network outages this summer that disrupted call services nationwide, including access to emergency lines. The incidents, which affected millions of customers, occurred in June and July, prompting scrutiny over whether the providers met their obligations to maintain network reliability.

BT reported a software fault that impaired voice services on its EE mobile network on July 24 and 25. This issue prevented BT and EE customers from making or receiving calls to other networks and, critically, to the 999 emergency service. The outage spanned the United Kingdom, leaving users unable to connect during a period of heightened vulnerability. Separately, Three experienced a significant disruption to its voice services on June 25, triggered by an exceptional spike in network traffic from a third-party software configuration change. This also hindered customers' ability to contact emergency services, with reports indicating widespread problems, including for users on networks that rely on Three's infrastructure, such as ID Mobile. At its peak, more than 79 percent of Three's...