AT&T said it was compensating customers for a full day of service after the carrier’s more than 10-hour outage on Thursday that affected more than 70,000 users, saying it was the “right thing to do.”
“We believe this approach is fully manageable while achieving the 2024 business goals we have set and the financial guidance we have set,” CEO John Stankey said in the letter. This was stated in a letter to members.
Service was restored late Thursday on AT&T’s 5G network, which serves about 290 million people in the United States.
The company said an initial investigation determined that the outage was caused by the incorrect application and execution of processes used during network expansion efforts, ruling out a cyber attack.
“Outages can sometimes have a significant impact on some subscribers beyond the face value of their credits,” Stankey said. “So I believe it is the right thing to do to provide essentially a full day of service to these customers.”
He added that while the credits will be applied automatically, prepaid customers have options available to them if they are affected.
An AT&T spokesperson declined to say Sunday how many customers would qualify for the bill credit or how much it would cost the company.
AT&T said it will work with mid-market and large enterprise customers to address their concerns.
The Federal Communications Commission announced Thursday that it is investigating the incident.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is working with AT&T to determine the cause.
