US telco giant AT&T Inc. has announced a reimbursement for customers following Thursday’s major outage of its wireless network that left over 70,000 subscribers without service.
The Dallas, Texas-based carrier said it would provide a $5 credit to AT&T Wireless customers affected by the 12-hour cellular internet outage.
The credit was the average price of a full-day service, according to the company, and will not include Business or Prepaid subscribers or users under Cricket.
AT&T chief executive John Stankey said the move was the ‘right thing to do’ and that it is ‘fully manageable’ while reaching their business and financial goals this year.
Customers will receive the account credit automatically, while prepaid subscribers who were potentially impacted will be provided with options.
A spokesperson for the firm did not reveal how many users were eligible for the credit or how much AT&T would spend for the reimbursement.
AT&T Suffers Massive Network Outage in the US
AT&T on Thursday suffered a widespread network outage that kept tens of thousands of its users in the US from making phone calls, sending text messages, and accessing internet and emergency services.
Days before the incident, the US’s third-largest wireless carrier with a subscriber base of around 87 million has also experienced temporary disruption in contacting 911 in the southeast.
Regional outages to wireless services are seldom, but nationwide disruptions rarely occur.
An initial investigation found that the interruption was due to an issue with the process used while the company was expanding its wireless network, dismissing a cyberattack angle.
AT&T restored service to its 5G network late Thursday, which caters to about 290 million US users. The carrier reiterated that it was implementing necessary measures to avoid another massive network issue in the future.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) confirmed it was looking into the incident, while the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is investigating the cause alongside AT&T.
