Customers of O2 have been suffering difficulties making calls, sending texts, and using data today, with the network announcing it has been struck by technical faults.

The company’s service status page confirmed the problems in a post at 10:00 GMT this morning, which read, “Further to the fault we reported earlier (where some customers in some areas have been unable to make or receive calls, texts or use data), we believe we have now identified the cause of the fault and are taking corrective action to restore service to those customers affected…we are sorry for any inconvenience this may be causing.”

O2’s official UK Twitter account provided an update on the situation at around 16:00 GMT, when the firm said 10 per cent of its customers were having problems making calls and using data, though some who had been affected earlier were now “back up and running”.

With the Telefónica-owned firm boasting over 20 million customers in the UK, the numbers suffering problems today will have reached millions. The company may need more than some street slang-savvy customer support employees to soften this particular PR blow.