AT&T restores emergency 911 services to mobile customers after outage

AT&T, the second biggest US wireless carrier, said its mobile phone service to 911 emergency dispatchers was restored last evening after its cell phone customers were hit by what public safety agencies called a nationwide outage.

"Service has been restored for wireless customers affected by an issue connecting to 911," a representative for the company said in an email statement. "We apologize to those affected."

"AT&T is experiencing a nationwide outage which is affecting 911 calls," authorities in Washington, DC, said in an email alert.

Local authorities tweeted telephone numbers which residents could dial in case of an emergency.

AT&T had a US subscriber base of about 135 million as of 31 December, 2016, according to a company filing.

The outage affected subscribers in at least 14 states and Washington, DC for a few hours on Wednesday night according to officials.

The telecommunications giant offered no details as to how the problem started, or the number of customers affected. The warnings began around 5:49 pm, when a Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency in West Virginia reported the problem on Facebook.

According to the Hendricks County Communications Center in Indiana, a consolidated dispatch centre for police, fire, and emergency medical service agencies, 911 calls from AT&T customers simply failed to connect.

By 9:30 pm officials in at least 14 states - Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington had posted warnings with some saying the problem was sporadic while others said it was statewide or nationwide.