Mobile Networks Under Strain Following Bomb BlastsMobile Networks Under Strain Following Bomb Blasts

LONDON — Wireless networks throughout the U.K. were under severe pressure Thursday (July 7) following a series of coordinated bomb blasts, but network operators said service is nearly back to normal.

According to the country's largest operator, Vodafone: "Understandably, we are experiencing significant network congestion but we are working closely with the emergency services."

Vodafone said an excessive number of calls soon after the terror attacks caused outages. The operator consequently set aside capacity for phone calls to emergency services.

Other U.K. mobile carriers also confirmed they gave priority to the emergency services in the immediate aftermath of the blasts.

They added that the problems should be temporary.

Other wireless operators here said they had boosted capacity to cope with the huge surge in calls. They also stressed that there were no requests from the emergency services or police to suspend or shut down networks for security reasons.

A spokesman for wireless carrier 02 said its network sustained no damage following the explosions. "The network is experiencing congestion in affected areas due to the high volumes of calls and steps have been taken to increase network capacity. We have also been asked by the police to provide priority access to the emergency services teams for mobile phone usage in and around the Aldgate area" near the city's financial district.

"This means that customers may find it particularly difficult to make calls in that area. We would therefore recommend that customers try to keep usage to a minimum or use text as an alternative if they experience network congestion."

The situation was similar for other U.K. national mobile networks, Orange and T-Mobile.

All operators said network problems were worst in the London area, but other parts of the country have also suffered from temporary outages.

BT said its fixed network remains intact, but is experiencing massive spikes in call volume and, thus, some congestion problems. Calls from the U.S. shortly after the attack were not being completed.

A BT spokesman urged people to make only essential calls.