Pocket-lint got in contact with O2 following the network outage reported in various areas across the country this morning to try and shed more light on what was going on. 

And the network has just got back to us with this statement from an O2 spokesperson:

"At 10 o’clock this morning we identified a connectivity issue on our network which is affecting both 2G and 3G service in parts of East London, North London, Kent and East Sussex. Customers in these areas may be experiencing difficulty in making or receiving mobile calls, texts or using data. Our engineers are working to identify the problem and resolve it as soon as possible. We apologise to those customers affected and will be updating progress regularly."

O2 also told us that congestion is now falling and it was taking steps to restore service

Twitter came alive earlier today with complaints from O2 customers all over the country reporting data outages and voice problems. 

O2 had a major network outage earlier this year when thieves vandalised a site needed for voice, text and 3G data in East London. O2 quickly rushed to get the centre repaired, not being able to inform customers of the exact damage or time it would take to fix due to security reasons. 

GiffGaff and Tesco Mobile users will also find their mobile phones struggling today, as they make use of O2's systems. 

Check back at Pocket-lint for more information on the O2 outage as it unfolds.

UPDATE: It seems that the new outage was a follow on side-effect of the original vandalism in East London. O2 has just been in contact with us again to explain: "The issue was the result of planned work designed to ensure the robustness of the network following theft and vandalism at a site in East London last month."

However, all should now be well: "Service was restored at 10.50am. We apologise to those customers affected and we continue to monitor service from the site," the spokesperson tells us.

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