DATA services have returned for thousands of mobile phone users in Somerset.

Yesterday, services on the O2 network around the country went down amid a software failure involving the company's supplier, Ericsson.


READ MORE: How O2 customers can claim money back after the incident


Now, O2 says supplies are back for most customers.

A statement said: "We can now report that our 4G network has been restored.

"Our technical teams will continue to monitor service performance closely over the next few days to ensure we remain stable.

"A review will be carried out with Ericsson to understand fully what happened.

"We’d like to thank our customers for their patience during the loss of service on Thursday and we’re sorry for any impact the issue may have caused." 


READ MORE: Having problems getting online with O2 mobile network? Here's why...


Mark Evans, CEO of Telefonica (O2) UK, also apologised.

"I want to let our customers know how sorry I am for the impact our network data issue has had on them, and reassure them that our teams, together with Ericsson, are doing everything we can. 

"We will continue to work with Ericsson, through the night, who have assured us that a full service will be restored for customers by the morning.

"We fully appreciate it’s been a poor experience and we are really sorry."


READ MORE: How O2 customers can claim compensation after the network went down 


Marielle Lindgren, CEO Ericsson UK & Ireland, explained the issues in a statement, saying: "The cause of today’s network issue is in certain nodes in the core network resulting in network disturbances for a limited number of customers across the world, including in the UK.

"We have been working hard on resolving the UK data issue since early this morning.

"The faulty software that has caused these issues is being decommissioned.

"Our priority is to restore full data services on the network by tomorrow morning.

"Ericsson sincerely apologises to customers for the inconvenience caused."

Compensation or refund claims are expected from customers who lost service on Thursday