AT&T has announced that it will be providing compensation to its wireless customers who were affected by the extensive network outage that lasted for nearly 12 hours on Thursday. The telecommunications giant acknowledged the inconvenience and frustration caused to its customers in a press statement, expressing regret for having let them down.
The affected customers will receive a credit of $5, which AT&T claims represents the average daily cost of using their services. This remuneration, however, does not extend to subscribers under AT&T’s Business or Prepaid plans or those with Cricket Wireless accounts. The latter was acquired by AT&T in 2014 for approximately $1.2 billion.
The network outage, which initially occurred at around 3:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, left tens of thousands of subscribers across the United States unable to access calls, texts, internet, and emergency services in full capacity. In the days preceding the outage, AT&T had experienced occasional service disruptions, including a temporary 911 blackout in certain regions of the southeast.
Though regional wireless service interruptions are not uncommon, large-scale nationwide outages are relatively rare. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initiated an investigation into the matter on Thursday.
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency also reported collaborating with AT&T to ascertain the root cause of the outage and assess its implications. The agency pledged their readiness to offer any necessary assistance in the process.
Approximately six hours following the restoration of service, AT&T released a statement attributing the outage to an internal issue rather than a cybersecurity breach. The company stated that, based on their initial findings, the incident had resulted from an erroneous process implemented during network expansion.
On Saturday, AT&T reaffirmed its commitment to taking preventative measures to avoid a recurrence of such incidents in the future. However, the company did not disclose additional details regarding the steps they were taking.
This report does not contain contributions from CNN’s Catherine Thorbecke, Melissa Alonso, or Brian Fung.
