On Tuesday morning, numerous Telkom users reported they could not access the Internet using the operator’s mobile network.
Several Telkom members complained of issues on Telkom LTE from about 08:22.
One stated they used seven Telkom SIMs on Axxess packages in different locations, and none were working.
Telkom’s Downdetector dashboard showed a significant surge in reports of issues from around 08:00 in the morning and continuing until at least 09:02.
The vast majority of reports — 89% — were flagged with “Internet” as the keyword for complaints.
The Downdetector outage map showed concentrations of reports in metropolitan areas including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, and Durban.
MyBroadband was also unable to go online on a phone with a Telkom contract SIM. Standard voice calls appeared to be working.
It is unclear which customers or packages were affected by the apparent downtime.
The issue was also not acknowledged on any of Telkom’s social channels at the time of publication, but Twitter was filled with complaints from frustrated customers.
“What on earth is going on with your network? I literally can’t use all my social media platforms,” one user said.
A second user claimed he had five different Telkom SIMs in various locations, and none could access the Internet.
Update — 11:00
Telkom has told MyBroadband the problem was caused by a fibre break on its network, which was affecting Northern Gauteng, Limpopo, Rustenburg and portions of Mpumalanga.
“Customers on mobile, LTE and Fibre in the affected areas will experience a slow response time on the Internet,” the operator stated.
“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused. We request your patience as our technicians work to repair the cable and make every effort to bring services back in the affected areas as soon as possible.”
Telkom said a further update would be provided once an estimated restoration time was available.
Main Image: EWN
