Ofcom investigating two UK phone networks after major outages
The UK’s communications watchdog Ofcom has launched an investigation into telecommunications providers BT and Three following major mobile network outages this summer.
These outages severely impacted call services across the country, significantly impacting access to emergency lines.
Ofcom confirmed that BT reported a software issue that disrupted call services from the EE mobile network on 24 and 25 July.
This error resulted in BT and EE customers being unable to make or receive calls to other networks and, more importantly, emergency services.
Separately, Three reported an incident affecting calling services on June 25. This also impacted customers’ ability to contact emergency services during the outage.
These new investigations follow an earlier investigation into BT launched by Ofcom in June this year after technical faults disrupted the 999 emergency call service.
The watchdog said it would seek to find out whether the two mobile firms complied with their regulatory obligations as a result of these events.
A BT spokesperson said: “We understand that Ofcom launched an investigation into a technical fault affecting voice calls on our network on 24 and 25 July 2025.
“We will cooperate fully with Ofcom throughout the investigation and we apologize again for any problems this incident has caused.”
All three individuals have been contacted for comment.
The regulator said in a statement: “Mobile operators need to take appropriate and proportionate measures to identify and mitigate risks and be prepared for anything to occur that could compromise the availability, performance or functionality of their networks or services.
“Providers must also take appropriate and proportionate measures to prevent adverse effects arising from such concessions.
“In the event of an adverse impact on the network or service, the provider must take appropriate and proportionate measures to eliminate or mitigate this impact.”
