(Adds Vodafone statement on situation normalising)
BERLIN, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Vodafone said on Monday
that operations on its German mobile network were returning to
normal after the failure of control equipment caused a
widespread outage lasting more than three hours.
The German unit of British-based Vodafone, the telecoms
group with the most users in Europe, said its network was hit by
problems in several regions at 1:50 p.m. (1250 GMT), leaving
more than 100,000 mobile phone users cut off.
Tracking site Downdetector showed a steep spike in outages,
with hotspots in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt and
other cities.
Vodafone said the network problem had been caused by the
failure of control equipment in Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin.
The customers who were shut out of the network were reconnected
at 3:30 p.m. and network traffic was normalising by 5 p.m.
"Our technical experts are working flat out on the exact
root cause analysis and sustainable fault clearance. The network
elements will be observed very closely in the coming night and
tomorrow," Vodafone said, apologising to its customers.
Vodafone's 2020 mobile revenue is forecast at 5 billion
euros ($5.9 billion) in Germany. That gives it a market share of
19.3% - third behind Deutsche Telekom (31.7%) and Telefonica
Deutschland (25.5%), according to the VATM telecoms lobby.
($1 = 0.8445 euros)
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine;
Editing by Alison Williams)