UPDATED: As if Telenor didn’t have enough problems: On Friday, Telenor’s mobile phone customers all over Norway were having difficulty making and receiving calls because of trouble with Telenor’s mobile network.
“The problems apply to the whole country,” a customer service representative told newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad at midday. They affected approximately 1 million people and the state communications authority Nkom (Nasjonal kommunikasjonsmyndighet) was launching an investigation.
At 12.25 pm, Oslo’s firefighting and rescue unit (Oslo Brann & Redningsetaten, OBRE) sent out a message urging anyone in trouble to use Telenor’s main rival, NetCom, when trying to summon help.
“OBRE is experiencing now that Telenor is struggling with its mobile network,” announced the fire and rescue agency over Twitter. “If you call in an emergency, try to find someone with NetCom or a permanent telephone line.”
The network trouble was fixed by 3:30pm and managment said they were launching their own probe to determine what caused what they called a “network error.” It was the latest serious problem to hit Telenor, following admissions this week of corruption at its partly owned VimpelCom Ltd. Telenor now can await tough questions from the authorities and a possible fine.
newsinenglish.no staff
