Millions hit by mobile phone fault

Millions of Spaniards were deprived of the use of their mobile phones when their Vodafone network crashed.

In the biggest communications breakdown in the history of mobile phones, the lives of 8.7 million subscribers – and of millions trying to contact them – were thrown into disarray by a software failure in Madrid on Thursday.

Bewildered citizens of one of the world's most gregarious and articulate nations formed forlorn queues outside public phone booths, restoring a brief day of glory to these neglected remnants of old technology. Others swamped Vodafone's ubiquitous shops demanding an explanation. Vodafone's helpline and website froze all day. Consumer groups demanded compensation for customers.

The crisis revealed Spaniards' deep dependence on their moviles. More people own mobiles than the dearer fixed lines, and many have abandoned fixed lines altogether.

Vodafone said yesterday that a fault occurred during maintenance work on information systems, which incapacitated various services, with a knock-on effect leading to failure of the whole network, including the back-up system. It promised an "exhaustive" inquiry and said it would send text messages of apology to all its customers.