Colt clients paralysed by technical web problems

Major technical problems at internet service provider Colt Telecom have affected email and web access at a string of major London businesses over the past two days.

Colt Telecom has admitted the crisis hit its services in the capital and eight other major financial centres across Europe, including Zurich, Geneva and Frankfurt.

One London business, which requested anonymity, claimed to the Evening Standard that its internet and telephone services have been paralysed since yesterday and were still not functioning. A Colt spokesman insisted that only a "small proportion" of its corporate clients were suffering from the disruption. Colt declined to say which firms have been hit or to name its customers but PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Reuters, Bank of America, Commerzbank and IKEA have reportedly been clients.

The spokesman said: "We anticipate resolving it later today."

Colt, which runs internet networks in 34 cities to at least 16,000 buildings across Europe, said services have also been hit in Dublin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan and Vienna. The FTSE-listed telecoms firm added that it had not discovered the cause of the crisis.