Media Release
On Tuesday 08 November 2022, Vodafone mobile data services were interrupted due to equipment failure within the mobile core network in Aroa. This fault was noted at 12:45am. This impacted our customers who were unable to connect to mobile data. Broadband internet services were not affected by this outage. Restoration required the replacement of the faulty equipment. Full service was restored at 10:30am.
The outage caused disruption to some businesses who operate mobile data EFTPOS terminals where payments for goods or services were hindered via card payments.
Following on from the outage, our technicians have continued to monitor the network for issues and an investigation into the root cause of the outage was conducted to prevent a recurrence.
As a result of the investigations, it was noted a planned maintenance outage to our O3B Gateway was scheduled for the early hours of the morning (3am-6am) which would only impact mobile services in the outer islands for a short duration. This planned outage was not a result of the equipment failure in our mobile network core that affected customers nationwide. Network alarms were detected, and a team of technicians were alerted and enroute to Aroa. After the initial assessment, it was discovered a faulty router was the cause of the issue. This was replaced with a new router and parts, and services were restored soon after. 3G data was restored by 8am and 4G data at 10:30am. Users on the Mobile 4G data service during the day would have experienced severe congestion at some sites resulting in dropped data connection or no data connection, this normalised after 1 pm.
Phillip Henderson, CEO Vodafone says, ‘We sincerely apologise to our customers and industry partners for the inconvenience and disruption caused. It was disappointing that this occurred, and we recognise the impact this would have on people relying on the payments system. We want to assure our customers every effort is taken to minimise disruptions, with emphasis placed on reducing the impact and restoring services as soon as possible’.
