BT fibre broadband network suffers major outage

BT's fibre optic broadband network suffered a major outage on Monday (October 3rd 2011), the telecoms giant has announced.

Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were left without broadband and landline services as a result of the incident, which BT attributed to a power failure at an exchange in Birmingham.

According to the company, about five per cent of its total subscribers were affected.

In a statement, BT described the interruption to its fibre broadband service as "brief", insisting the majority of customers were able to get back online within an hour.

However, the internet service provider acknowledged that some business customers may have been without broadband and landline access for longer than this.

"Should any customers continue to experience difficulty in accessing their broadband service, they are advised to turn their hub or modem off and on again," BT added.

In August, the company was forced to defend its broadband service in Cornwall after subscribers complained they were paying for fast internet access but receiving dial-up speeds, BBC News reported.