O2 down: Data and 4G stops working across UK as Tesco Mobile and GiffGaff users also hit

O2 users across the UK faced major network problems yesterday as 4G and data services stopped working.

A total of 32 million customers were thought to have been affected on Thursday with phones simply failing to show any data connection.

Customers using Sky, Tesco Mobile, GiffGaff and Lycamobile, which share O2's network, were hit, as were services like Transport for London's electronic timetable at bus stops.

Bus stop arrival boards went blank and travel app services could not be updated.

The problems, which also affected Japan's Softbank, appeared to be caused by a software glitch in equipment supplied by Swedish company Ericsson.

"We are aware of the issue and are working together with our customers to solve it as soon as possible," an Ericsson spokesman said.

O2, Britain's second biggest mobile network after EE, earlier blamed the outage on a software issue at a third party supplier and said other firms outside the country were affected.

It posted on its website: "The network issue we are currently experiencing remains a top priority for us and we are working as quickly as possible to fix the issues.

"One of our third party suppliers has identified a global software issue in their system which has impacted us.

"We believe other mobile operators around the world are also affected. Our technical teams are working with their teams to ensure this is fixed as quickly as possible.

"We’d encourage our customers to use Wifi wherever they can and we apologise for the inconvenience caused."

Addressing the issue with live bus updates, a TfL spokesperson said: “We’re sorry that customers are unable to use our countdown screens at bus stops for live travel information.

"This is a result of a nationwide O2 data outage. We are working with our service provider to resolve this as soon as possible.”

The network issues started at about 5.30am.

Furious customers vented their frustration on social media.

One Twitter user wrote: "O2 network? Down? Really?!!!!!! @O2 appalling coverage all the time anyway, can’t wait to switch out my service provider."

"This is ridiculous apparently it's the whole country I can't just rely on wifi," added another.

Another person said: "I’m working from home so have WiFi all day but unfortunately no service which means I’m potentially missing urgent calls and losing new clients. Sort it out @O2."

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